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JERRY  SIMPSON 


THE  STORY  OF 


JERRY  SIMPSON 


BY 

ANNIE  L.  DIGGS 


JANE  SIMPSON,  PUBLISHER 

WICHITA,  KANSAS 


COPYRIGHT  19O8 
BY  JANE  SIMPSON 
ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 


HOBSON  PRINTING  COMPANY 

PRINTERS   AND  BINDERS 
WICHITA,  KANSAS 


•,*»* 


MRS.   JERRY   SIMPSON 


CONTENTS 

Page. 
Portrait,  Jerry  Simpson Frontispiece 

1.  Jane  and  Jerry 7 

2.  The    Warp    and    Woof 13 

3.  The   Journey    Begun 21 

4.  In  Battle  With  the  Storm 27 

5.  Little    Hallie 33 

6.  The  Home  in  Barber  County 41 

7.  Political    Evolution 51 

8.  The    Farmers    Alliance 61 

9.  An    Alliance    Nemesis 71 

10.  The    Peoples    Party 77 

11.  The  Personnel   of   the   Peoples  Party 95 

12.  Sockless    Socrates    and   Prince   Hal 103 

13.  Jerry    Arrives    at    Washington 115 

14.  Senator  Long  and  Jerry  Simpson 123 

15.  Jerry   in   Congress 135 

16.  Populism   Etiroute 155 

17.  A    Symposium 177 

IS.  The    Babes    in    the    Woods 185 

19.  The    Simple    Life 193 

20.  Old  Friends  and   New   Days 205 

21.  The   Journey    Ended 209 


478618 


DEDICATION. 

This  tribute  to  the  memory  of  my  hus 
band  I  dedicate  to  his  friends  in  all  walks  of 
life,  the  rich  and  the  poor;  the  learned  and 
the  unlettered;  the  widely  known  and  the 
great  unknown,  whom  he  held  in  close  affec 
tion  and  to  whom  he  was  always  loyal. 

JANE  SIMPSON. 


JANE  AND  JEREY. 


Jane  and  Jerry. 

One  night  in  the  winter  of  1869,  at  Jack 
son  Center,  Indiana,  a  little  village  close 
swept  by  the  breezes  of  Lake  Michigan,  a 
social  affair  of  heart-throbbing  importance 
was  in  progress.  It  was  "Spelling  School" 
night  at  the  village  school  house.  The  pret 
ty  country  girls  had  smartened  up  their  Sun 
day  frocks  and  maybe  added  a  new  ribbon  to 
their  satisfying  costumes.  The  stalwart  boys 
had  greased  their  boots  and,  perchance,  as 
was  the  fashion  of  that  day,  smoothed  their 
locks  by  application  of  sweet  scented  oil. 
The  school  room  buzzed  with  happiness  for 
each  girl  and  boy  had  earned  this  good  time 
by  good  days  works;  moreover,  none  in  all 
7 


THE  STORY  OF 

that  neighborhood  was  far  out  circumstanced 
by  another. 

On  this  especial  night,  a  newcomer, 
Young  Simpson,  a  sailor  lad,  just  in  from  a 
season  on  the  Lakes,  was  running  gauntlet  of 
opinion.  And  jolly  well  he  ran,  for  he  was 
readiest  of  all  that  company  with  quip  and 
jest.  Good  humored  and  as  breezy  as  the 
Lakes  whereon  he  had  spent  years  of  whole 
some  life. 

"He's  not  like  the  others/'  said  Jane 
Cape. 

Now  Jane  was  a  round,  rosy,  slip  of  a 
girl  who  first  saw  daylight  in  Cumberland- 
shire,  England.  She  was  the  merriest,  sauci 
est,  daringest  one  of  all  that  jolly  company. 
She  was  a  bit  imperious  too,  despite  her  small 
person  and  her  appealing,  big,  blue  eyes.  So 
when  Jane  whispered  to  the  big  boy  who  was 
choosing  up  sides:  "Choose  Jerry  Simpson 
8 


JEEEY  SIMPSON. 

next  to  me,"  she  had  her  way. 

"Why  did  they  choose  me,"  said  Jerry, 
"I  can't  spell." 

"Never  mind,"  said  happy  Jane,  "I  can 
spell  for  both  of  us." 

Jerry  went  down  the  first  round.  Vain 
glorious  Jane  sat  down  the  second,  and  would 
have  been  mightily  chagrined  save  that  she 
was  so  happy  snuggled  up  to  Jerry  while  he 
told  her,  on  this,  their  second  time  of  meet 
ing,  that  he  had  "thought  about  her,"  and, 
might  he  see  her  home.  , 

The  spelling  match  was  long  drawn  out. 
The  two  sides  stood  up  bravely.  The  "giver 
out"  turned  on  his  list  of  catch  words.  Many 
a  boy  and  girl  triumphed  over  the  long,  hard 
words  only  to  be  tripped  on  some  simple  one, 
until  one  by  one  the  spellers  sat  them  down 
even  as  in  the  years  since  come  and  gone  so 
many  of  that  company  have  dropped  off  to 

9 


THE  STORY  OF 

sleep  the  good,  long  sleep. 

Before  the  champion  speller  of  that  night 
stood  on  the  floor  alone,  all  flushed  with  pride 
and  glad  with  hearty  handshakes,  it  had  come 
to  young  Simpson  to  know  that  he  wanted 
more  than  all  things  else  in  life  to  have  the 
blue  eyed  Jane  to  be  his  own  for  all  the  time 
to  come. 

In  other,  stranger  years  to  come,  this 
sailor  lad  so  broad  of  smile,  so  kind  of  heart, 
so  brave  and  quaint  of  speech,  shall  stand  in 
many  a  country  schoolhouse,  champion  for 
human  rights  and  none  shall  spell  him  down 
until  his  great  story,  bravely,  quaintly  told, 
sets  truth  a-m  arching  on. 


10 


THE  WAEP  AND  WOOF. 


II. 

The  Warp  and  Woof. 

In  the  late  Sixties  the  people  of  the 
Western  States  were  for  the  most  part  poor 
of  pocket  but  rich  in  ways  of  industry  and  of 
small  possessions.  Business  integrity  was 
on  top. 

"Your  word  is  good  enough  security  for 
me  without  a  scratch  of  pen/'  was  answer 
neighbor  often  gave  to  neighbor  with  a  loan 
of  cash. 

The  ugly  words  graft  and  boodler  had 
not  been  spawned. 

There  be  memories  of  such  clean  days 
that  sometimes  clutch  the  heartstrings  of  mil 
lionaires  stifling  amidst  their  heavy  scented 
luxuries.  The  call  of  husking  bee,  of  spelling 
match,  of  singing  school,  harks  back  to  simple 
13 


THE  STORY  OF 

days  before  big  money  came  to  set  up  glitter 
ing  things  that  lure  young  men  and  maids 
to  glare  and  blare  of  life,  and  trade  them 
feverish  falsities  for  wholesome,  homely  ways. 

In  those  good  days  when  Jerry  courted 
Jane,  it  was  enough  for  any  girl  if  her  young 
man  had  strong  right  arm  to  till  the  fields  or 
was  skillful  at  some  handicraft  and  so  could 
earn  a  modest  home  for  her.  It  was  enough 
for  the  young  man  if  marriage  dower  of  his 
beloved  were  but  a  cow,  a  feather  bed,  and 
some  homespun  things.  Or,  perchance,  lack 
ing  even  these  their  sweet  venture  ran  no  risk 
where  health  and  hope  stood  sponsor  for  the 
sacrament. 

Those  were  days  when  men  believed  in 
public  men  from  Justice  of  the  Peace  to  Sen 
ator,  days  when  the  Fourth  of  July  meant  in 
spiration  to  youngsters  and  reconsecration  to 
their  elders.  Good  days  they  were  for  in- 

14 


JEREY  SIMPSON. 

graining  of  character:  good  days  to  shuttle 
through  the  loom  of  time  and  make  the  warp 
and  woof  of  life. 

And  good  days  and  ways  had  gone  before 
for  many  Simpson  generations  back.  There 
are  in  the  family  today,  official  documents, 
signed  by  Scottish  dignitaries,  which  attest 
the  sterling  worth  and  standing  of  Jerry 
Simpson's  ancestors  given  when  they  sailed 
for  the  New  World. 

Jerry  was  born  a  subject  of  Queen  Vic 
toria,  in  Westmorland  County,  New  Bruns 
wick,  March  31,  1842.  His  father  was  a 
masterful  man  in  mind  and  body;  he  was  a 
great  reader  and  Jerry  found  at  home  many 
of  the  best  of  the  older  English  authors. 

Jerry's  mother  was  a  Washburn  of 
Welch  and  English  ancestry.  A  strong,  self- 
poised  woman  of  most  commanding  presence, 
of  whom  Jerry  and  all  her  admiring  children 
15 


THE  STORY  OF 

said:  "She  is  remarkable;  the  blessedest 
mother  in  the  world." 

The  Simpson  family  circumstances  were 
quite  above  the  poverty  line  but  there  were 
many  deprivations  incident  to  time  and  place. 
The  father  owned  a  saw-mill  which  did  good 
business  for  those  days,  but  there  was  a  large 
family  and  in  the  Simpson  gospel  there  was 
a  trinity  of  words  that  ran:  Integrity,  In 
dustry,  Independence;  and  Jerry  bred  t>n 
these,  hired  himself  out  a  year  before  he 
reached  his  teens  to  a  neighbor  for  six  dollars 
a  month.  The  year  he  reached  fourteen  he 
went  as  cook  on  a  Lake  steamer.  From  that 
time  on,  save  for  brief  intervals,  for  twenty  - 
three  years  the  Great  Lakes  knew  his  sturdy, 
faithful  service  as  common  sailor,  mate  and 
captain. 

Out  on  the  solemn  waters,  under  the 
more  solemn  skies,  Young  Simpson  queried 


16 


JEKEY  SIMPSON. 

much  of  life  and  destiny. 

Among  the  books  he  read  were  Dickens, 
Carlyle,  Scott,  Burns,  Shakespeare,  Hugo, 
Shelly,  the  Bible  and  Tom  Paine. 

He  summed  up  all  that  his  self-commun- 
ings  and  his  reading  brought  to  him  in  his 
"religious  creed"  which  ran:  Life  is  good; 
Church  creeds  are  a  misfit;  I  love  my  fellow 
men. 

And  this  sufficed  for  his  early  years. 

Who  can  ever  tell  which  shows  the  larger 
balance  in  the  make  up  of  a  man,  the  books 
he  reads,  the  happenings  to  his  life;  or  the 
native  qualities — the  timber  and  texture  born 
with  him.  However  that  may  be,  certain  it 
is,  that  Young  Simpson  saw  life  Dickenswise 
to  a  rich  and  rare  degree.  So  quick  was  he 
to  see  the  droll  and  humorous,  so  swift  was  he 
with  sympathy,  so  militant  was  he  toward 
shams,  hypocracy,  and  injustice  that  he  was 

17 


JEKEY  SIMPSON. 

in  close  fellowship  with  the  English  Master. 
Did  the  fore-knowing  fates  see  in  all  this 
a  preparation  for  a  time  when  the  whole  na 
tion  was,  first  to  deride,  and  then  to  listen 
to  Jerry  Simpson  ? 


18 


THE  JOURNEY  BEGUN. 


Ill 

The  Journey  Begun. 

Jerry  Simpson  and  Jane  Cape,  a  whole 
some,  rollicking,  care-free  pair,  were  married 
at  BufMo,]SFew  York,  October  12,  1870,  and 
for  their  bridal  trip  they  went  a-sailing  on 
the  "Summer  Cloud." 

Jane  Cape  had  been  well  trained  by  her 
good  English  mother  in  all  housewifely  ways. 
She  had  been  taught  that  idleness  and  un- 
thrift  were  sinful.  And  so  it  seemed  a  fine 
and  fitting  thing  to  go  as  cook  on  the  schoon 
er,  Summer  Cloud,  of  which  her  husband 
was  First  Mate. 

On  those  glorious  nights  when  the  young 

couple  walked  the  deck  encompassed  by  the 

witchery  that  comes  not  elsewhere  than  upon 

the  waters  it  seemed  to  them  as  if  there  could 

21 


THE  STOEY  OF 

be  no  misery  or  meanness,  but  only  joy  and 
kindliness,  in  all  God's  blessed  world. 

The  world  of  books  in  which  Jerry  had 
lived  so  delightedly  was  an  unknown  world 
to  Jane.  So  for  a  time  he  closed  the  printed 
page  and  read  the  sweeter  book  of  life  with 
the  blue  eyed  girl  whose  lot  was  cast  with  his. 

With  a  rich  burr,  his  legacy  from  Scott 
ish  forbears,  he  would  recite,  "A  man's  a  man 
for  a'  that;"  "The  Cotter's  Saturday  Night," 
and  numberless  choice  things  which  his  fine 
memory  placed  at  his  command.  And  often- 
est  of  all,  like  some  refrain  fitted  to  all  tunes, 
he  would  say : 

" to  thine  own  self  be  true; 

And  it  must  follow,  as  the  night  the  day, 
Thou  canst  not  then  be  false  to  any  man." 

"I  do  not  quite  understand  you,"  Jane 
would  sometimes  say  in  response  to  Jerry's 

22 


JEKEY  SIMPSON. 

commentaries  upon  the  times  and  ways  of 

humankind. 

"Never  mind,  Jane,  you  will  some  day," 
he  would  reply  with  smile  so  broad  and  with 
such  perfect  patience  that  the  little  wife  did 
not  feel  chilled  by  any  gap  between  them. 

There  was  a  flavor  of  chivarly — a  defer 
ential,  old-school  mannerism  in  Jerry  Simp 
son's  demeanor  toward  women.  There  was 
indescribable  gentleness  in  his  ways  with 
little  Jane  as  if  he  felt  that  his  abounding 
health  and  strength  were  given  him  in  trust 
to  serve  and  shield  the  weaker  one. 

Days  when  the  seas  ran  high  poor  little 
sea-sick  Jane  declared  that  she  could  tell, 
though  groaning  in  her  berth,  just  when  Jer 
ry  took  the  wheel  from  another  and  steadied 
the  boat  with  his  more  masterful  hand. 

Thus  was  begun  their  long  journey  on 
the  buffeting  sea  of  life  and  neither  one  had 
any  care  or  sorrow. 

23 


IN  BATTLE  WITH  THE  STORM. 


IV. 


In  Battle  With  The  Storm. 

The  waters  of  the  Great  Lakes  some 
times  lash  themselves  into  a  great  storm-fury, 
as  if  to  rival  in  ferocity  the  raging  temper  of 
the  ocean.  On  such  a  deadly  time,  one  of 
the  largest  trading  ships  afloat  the  Lakes,  the 
"J.  H.  Rutter,"  Captain  Jerry  Simpson,  was 
in  tow  of  a  steam  barge  off  the  west  coast  of 
Michigan.  The  fierce  duel  between  the  crew 
of  the  Rutter  and  the  angry  storm  waged 
evenly  a  whole  day  but  when  night  came  the 
storm  had  gained  and  held  the  ship  and  the 
ship's  crew  at  its  mercy.  The  two  crafts 
were  torn  apart,  the  Rutter's  steering 

27 


THE  STORY  OF 

geer  became  useless.  The  men  on  that 
helpless  vessel  saw  death's  face  staring  in 
their  own.  Captain  Simpson's  alert  devices 
kept  the  ship  alive  through  that  long  night  of 
deadly  peril.  At  break  of  day  the  Rutter 
ran  aground.  The  storm  abated;  the  life 
peril  passed,  then  the  Captain,  unheedfnl  of 
the  stress  and  strain  of  the  soul-and-body 
wrenching  hours,  betook  himself  to  the  saving 
of  the  ship.  The  Rutter  was  aground  off 
Ludington,  Michigan.  Captain  Simpson 
went  ashore  with  his  small  boats  and  soon 
persuaded  forty  landsmen  to  help  unload  the 
cargo.  The  men  worked  with  a  will  under 
the  spell  of  Captain  Simpson's  cheery  com 
mands  until,  the  task  half  done,  the  defiant 
wind  arose  and  baffled  every  move.  The 
landsmen  were  unable  to  keep  their  feet  and 
Captain  Simpson,  aided  by  his  brother 
James,  lifted  the  men  bodily  to  safer 

28 


JEEEY  SIMPSON. 

places  and  lashed  them  to  the  rigging.  From 
this  perilous  plight  they  were  rescued  by  a 
life  saving  crew.  The  owners  of  the  Rutter 
were  notified  of  the  struggle  for  the  salvation 
of  their  ship  while  its  outcome  was  yet  un 
certain.  They  sent  hourly  messages  to  the 
little  village  in  Indiana  where  the  Captain's 
wife,  with  their  little  one,  listened  to  the 
storm  with  such  cold  fear  as  only  a  sailor's 
wife  with  husband  on  the  wild  sea  can  know. 

It  is  a  prime  business  disaster  for  a 
captain  to  lose  a  boat  entrusted  to  his  com 
mand.  But  Jerry  Simpson  was  a  game,  grace 
ful  loser.  Those  hours  of  battle  with  the 
storm  etched  lines  that  never  left  his  face 
but  he  never  whined  or  whimpered  in  his 
life.  He  fully  expected  to  lose  his  rank  and 
his  engagement  with  the  ship's  owners. 

Instead  they  gave  him  a  larger,  better 
boat.  ^ 

29 


LITTLE  HALLIE. 


Little  Hallie. 

If  life  had  been  full  and  satisfactory  for 
Young  Simpson,  First  Mate  of  the  Summer 
Cloud,  with  his  days'  works  well  done,  with 
his  growing  popularity  among  his  employers, 
with  his  steadily  increasing  knowledge  of  his 
craft  and  its  related  business  ashore,  and, 
above  all  with  his  adoring,  blue  eyed  Jane, 
what  must  it  have  been  when  Little  Hallie, 
his  own,  little,  little  child,  came  to  make  for 
him  a  larger  heaven  on  land  and  sea. 

No  prosaic  pen  should  try  to  tell  of  those 
ecstatic  hours  when  the  young  father  held  his 
child  in  his  strong  arms.  His  watchful  care 
and  his  great  tenderness  were  such  as  rarest 
mothers  show.  Over  and  over  in  softest 


33 


THE  STOEY  OF 

tones  he  sang  to  her,  "I'm  dreaming  now  of 
Hallie,"  and  that  song  so  full  of  melody  and 
sentiment  gave  the  little  one  her  name. 

Those  who  were  with  Jerry  in  those 
days  said :  "How  odd  he  is  in  his  ways  with 
Hallie.  He  talks  to  her,  laughs,  jokes,  and 
quotes  verse  as  if  she  were  a  grown  up  com 
panion."  They  tell  how,  with  a  queer  catch 
in  his  voice,  as  if  he  were  choking  with  joy, 
he  would  say,  "See,  just  see,  how  Hallie 
understands !  She  knows,  she  knows  just 
what  I  say  to  her."  And  truly  it  would 
seem,  by  time  the  child  was  two  years  old,  as 
if  she  did  understand.  Her  great  serious 
brown  eyes,  her  fine  forehead,  her  winsome 
and  expressive  face  and  her  quaint  ways 
placed  her  in  a  class  not  common.  As  is  the 
way  of  men  adrift  from  home,  the  ship's  crew 
idolized  her.  She  learned  to  walk  first  on 
her  little  sea  legs,  and  so  she  had  to  learn  a 

34 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

second  time,  another  kind  of  walk,  when  she 
went  ashore,  for  there  at  Grandma's  house 
the  steady,  stupid  floor  jumped  up  and  hit 
her  hard. 

When  Hallie  was  in  her  third  year,  First 
Mate  Simpson  won  his  promotion  to  a  Cap 
taincy.     He  was  given   a  larger  boat  with 
more  important  business.     The  purchase  of 
ship  supplies,  the  hiring  of  the  crew,  the  lad 
ing  of  the  cargo,  were  done  at  Chicago.     In 
a  little  village  forty  miles  away,  little  Hallie 
fell  ill  of  scurlet  fever.     Captain  Simpson's 
arduous  and  responsible  work  proceeded  day 
by  day  without  interruption,  but  so  soon  as 
his  day's  work  was  done  he  boarded  a  train 
which  took  him   but  part  way  to   his   sick 
child,  the  remaining  eleven  miles  he  walked 
across  a  lonely,  unfrequented  stretch  of  coun 
try.     He  relieved  the  mother  of  the  care  of 
the  little  one  during  his  stay  and  before  the 
35 


THE  STOEY  OF 

dawn  of  day  took  the  return  walk  and  went 
to  work  on  time :  this  he  did  each  day  for  two 
weeks  until  little  Hallie  was  past  all  danger. 
The  purpose  was  growing  with  Captain 
Simpson  to  become  a  landsman,  although  he 
greatly  loved  his   work   and  life   upon  the 
water.     But  his  little  Hallie  must  have   a 
more  befitting  home — the  best  surroundings 
and  advantages  he  could  earn  for  her.     All 
that  he  and  Jane  had  missed,  their  little  child 
should  have.     He  had  a  few  thousand  dol 
lars,  the  savings  of  twenty-three  years.     So 
he  gave  up  the   sea,   and  betimes   a  pretty 
home  was  built  in  Kansas  for  Jane,  Hallie 
and  a  baby  boy.     Besides    this    farm   home 
Jerry  owned  a  small  saw-mill. 

One  day,  little  Hallie,  the  chum,  confid 
ant  and  comrade  of  her  happy  father  for 
seven  wonderful  years  stepped  gaily  forth  to 
walk  home  with  papa  from  the  mill.  Jerry 

36 


JERKY  SIMPSOK 

saw  her  coming,  he  also  saw  a  great  log  roll 
ing  toward  her,  and  then,  O  God  help  him, 
he  saw  the  cruel  log  roll  over  her  and  crush 
out  all  her  sweet,  young  life.  How  did  he 
live  and  breathe  a-seeing  this?  God  only 
knows.  He  lent  his  strength  to  help  the 
men  raise  the  log  from  the  crushed  form. 
He  took  all  that  was  left  to  him  of  his  little 
Hallie  and  held  her  close,  close  as  in  those 
first,  ecstatic  days  when  they  brought  her  to 
him  on  the  Summer  Cloud.  He  held  her 
thus  for  hours,  while  he  lay  prone  on  the 
floor  of  the  home  he  had  built  for  her,  resist 
ing  all  efforts  to  take  the  little  form  from 
him. 

He  could  not  bear  the  torture  of  having 
any  stranger  speak  his  well  meant  words  of 
comfort,  so  they  had  no  minister  for  the 
funeral.  Just  as  the  little  coffin  lid  was  to 
be  fastened  down,  Jerry  stepped  forward 

37 


THE  STOKY  OF 

and  looked  at  the  sweet  face  again  and  the 
words  he  uttered  apostrophizing  the  child 
linger  in  the  memory  of  those  who  heard ;  so 
marvelously  beautiful  were  they,  that  the  pity 
is,  no  record  was  ever  made  of  them.  Doubt 
less  the  memory  of  them  lingered  not  with 
the  stricken  man  after  that  hour  of  exaltation 
passed. 

From  that  day  on,  it  could  not  be  written 
that  Jane  and  Jerry  had  no  sorrow  in  their 
lives. 


38 


THE  HOME  IN  EAKBEE  COUNTY. 


VI. 
The  Home  in  Barber  County. 

One  morning,  years  ago,  just  as  the  day 
was  breaking,  had  you  been  passing  the 
Simpson  ranch  in  southern  Kansas,  you 
might  have  said,  here  is  isolation,  here  is 
lonliness.  But  had  you  stepped  inside  the 
Simpson  home  you  would  have  found  no 
lonliness — not  even  dullness;  indeed  you 
would  have  joined  in  the  laugh  with  Jane 
and  Jerry  over  their  prank  of  the  night  just 
passed.  They  had  sat  up  all  night  a-reading 
the  Arabian  Nights.  When  the  night  ar 
rived  they  had  settled  themselves  for  the 
usual  evening  reading  aloud.  The  hours 
raced  away;  in  all  reason,  and  remembering 
the  morrow's  work,  they  should  have  taken 
41 


THE  STORY  OF 

sleep,  instead  with  much  delight  and  in  the 
spirit  of  their  frequent  frolicking  they  said: 
"we'll  read  just  a  little  more;"  meanwhile 
their  small  son,  Lester,  begging  not  to  be  put 
to  bed,  lay  with  his  head  cuddled  up  to 
mother  and  his  feet  in  Daddy's  lap,  while 
they  read  on  until  the  daylight  came. 

It  was  to  Barber  County  that  Jane  and 
Jerry  came  when  they  sold  their  sorrow- 
darkened  home  in  northern  Kansas.  Here 
Jerry  took  up  a  claim  and  invested  in  other 
land  and  in  a  herd  of  cattle.  The  first  three 
years  of  cattle  raising  prospered  fairly  well. 
Then  the  most  severe  winter  ever  kno~wn 
in  that  section  of  country  followed,  herds 
of  cattle  perished  and  Jerry  lost  the  accumu 
lations  of  a  life  time  of  toil  on  land  and  sea. 
But  never  in  any  of  the  fateful  times  that 
took  away  his  earnings  and  left  him  naked 
handed  to  begin  all  over  again  did  his  broad 
42 


JERKY  SIMPSON. 

smile  wear  off  or  the  note  of  cheerfulness 
leave  his  speech. 

It  was  from  this  Barber  County  home, 
near  Medicine  Lodge,  that  Jerry  Simpson 
was  twice  chosen  by  his  fellow  citizens,  first 
in  1886,  then  1888,  to  represent  them  on 
Greenback  and  Union  Labor  issues.  Both 
times  he  was  defeated  by  Mr.  T.  A.  McNeal, 
the  republican  candidate.  Both  "Tom"  Mc- 
Neal  and  Jerry  Simpson  were  past  masters 
of  scathing  wit  and  biting  sarcasm  which 
they  freely  used  toward  each  other  in  their 
campaigns.  Nevertheless  a  warm  friendship 
sprang  up  between  them,  and  in  the  spring 
of  1890,  when  Tom  McNeal  was  elected 
mayor  of  Medicine  Lodge,  he  appointed 
Jerry  city  marshal.  The  salary  was  $40 
per  month,  but  it  was  gladly  received,  and 
the  modest  duties  were  as  faithfully  per 
formed  as  if  the  office  had  been  of  national 

43 


THE  STORY  OF 

magnitude. 

It  was  from  Medicine  Lodge  that  Jerry 
Simpson  was  called  to  take  part  in  that  won 
derful  campaign  of  1890. 

When  he  was  nominated  for  Congress 
he  was  without  money  to  meet  the  incidental 
expenses,  but  his  ardent  admirers  in  all  sec 
tions  of  the  "Big  7th"  district  contributed 
the  necessary  funds;  many  of  them  gladly 
giving  sums  which  they  could  ill  afford. 
These  old  friends  Jerry  held  in  his  heart 
of  hearts  and  always  came  perilously  close 
to  quivering  lip  and  moistened  eye  when 
ever  he  spoke  of  their  faithfulness  and  de 
votion. 

Jerry  Simpson  believed  as  President 
Roosevelt  has  said,  that:  "A  man  should 
join  a  political  organization  and  attend  the 
primaries;  that  he  should  not  be  content  to 
be  governed,  but  should  do  his  part  in  the 

44 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

work."  It  is  true,  Jerry  did  not  believe 
in  remaining  with  any  political  organization 
after  it  failed  to  represent  his  convictions 
or  to  serve  in  all  honesty  the  interests  of  the 
people.  He  reveled  in  the  opportunity  to 
speak  to  the  people  upon  the  great  questions 
of  the  times.  His  years  of  thought  and 
study,  together  with  his  native  qualities, 
made  him  a  logical  leader.  He  translated 
the  theories  of  politics  swiftly  into  their 
practical  power  to  readjust  social  conditions. 
He  made  his  hearers  hear  and  see  how 
money  meant  morals,  and  how  all  just  eco 
nomics  spelled  homes  and  human  happiness. 
It  was  in  Barber  County  that  a  dan 
gerous  and  prolonged  illness  came  upon 
Mrs.  Simpson.  The  invalidism  that  fol 
lowed  was  of  so  trying  a  nature  that  it  marks 
the  tender  care,  the  marvelous  patience, 
shown  her  by  her  husband,  such  as  only 

45 


THE  STORY  OF 

mothers,  or  men  of  heroic  mold  are  capable. 
Poor  little  Jane  used  to  say  at  times  dur 
ing  her  years  of  weakness:  "Oh,  Jerry, 
how  can  yon  be  so  patient  and  so  good  to 
me  ?"  And,  in  his  beaming  fashion,  he 
would  say,  "Why,  Jane,  how  else  should  I 
be  with  you  ?" 

After  little  Hallie's  death,  the  father 
lavished  on  his  baby  boy  a  twofold  affection. 
There  was  no  display  of  weak  indulgence, 
but  ever  a  great  gentleness.  -From  Lester's 
infancy,  on  to  his  years  of  manhood,  he 
never  had  from  his  father  one  harsh  word 
or  any  reprimand.  The  mother,  less  calm 
of  temper,  and  less  a  believer  in  non-coer 
cion,  administered  the  customary  parental 
punishings,  whereupon  Jerry  would  say: 
"Don't  scold  the  child,  Jane,  he'll  come  out 
all  right."  Then  to  Lester,  "Come  now, 
little  son,  let's  talk  over  this  whole  matter." 

46 


JERKY  SIMPSON. 

It  often  took  long  argument  and  much  pa 
tience  but  never  once  did  the  father  assume 
dictatorship. 

These  intimate  domestic  facts  are  here 
in  told,  because  they  show  the  self-poise,  the 
ingrained  democracy,  of  the  man  whose 
hiter  fame  caused  such  widespread  wonder. 

He  had  reflected  much  upon  the  springs 
of  human  action,  and  so  discriminated  be 
tween  the  evil  doer  and  his  evil  deeds.  His 
serene,  unswervable  belief  in  the  essential 
goodness  of  mankind  was  a  saving  grace  with 
him;  he  cherished  no  resentments.  This 
well-spring  of  good  fellowship  never  ran 
dry,  and  that  was  the  great  reason  why  he 
drew  men  to  him  in  public  life  and  made 
them  so  strangely  forgiving  and  fond  of  him 
even  when  he  lashed  them  mercilessly, 
47 


THE  STORY  OF 

There  was  no  miracle  or  mistake  about 
the  fame  that  came  to  Jerry  Simpson;  it 
was  merely  that  the  man  was  ready  when 
the  time  arrived. 


48 


POLITICAL  EVOLUTION. 


VII. 

Political  Evolution. 

The  voice  of  the  waters  called  Jerry 
Simpson  throughout  all  of  his  days.  The 
freedom,  the  joy,  the  strength  of  his  life 
had  been  inbreathed  as  he  sailed.  Away 
from  the  distracting  Babel — away  from  the 
fret  and  blur  of  elbow- jostling  life  ashore, 
he  had  found  the  basic  principles  by  which 
he  was  destined  to  test  the  varying  phrases 
of  social  and  political  events.  He  had  cast 
fast  anchor  upon  the  bed-rock  of  Justice  and 
Fair  Play. 

Whatever  barred  the  way  to  full,  sweet 
life  to  any  human  kind,  he  squared  himself 
to  fight  against.  Whatever  conditions,  so- 

51 


THE  STOKY  OF 

cial  or  political,  failed  to  secure  to  each  and 
all  fair  chance  for  their  best  endeavor,  fell 
short  of  license  to  continue.  When  the  war 
between  the  North  and  South  menaced  the 
Union,  Jerry  said:  "The  people  need  a  big 
ship  to  sail  the  stormy  sea  of  life.  Our 
good  Ship  of  State  flies  the  Declaration  of 
Independence;  she  must  not  be  scuttled. 
Furthermore,  hand-cuffs  and  auction  blocks 
for  fellows  who  work,  don't  heave-to  along 
side  of  justice." 

These  were  the  reasons  Young  Simp 
son  gave  when  he  left  the  Lake  service  and 
enlisted  in  Company  A,  Twelfth  Illinois  In 
fantry. 

A  few  months  of  army  service  was  ter 
minated  by  the  first  severe  sickness  of  his 
life. 

Jerry  Simpson  was  so  inately  and  un 
swervingly  democratic  that  he  could  not  be 

52 


JERKY  SIMPSON. 

other  than  Republican  in  politics — in  those 
days.  He  cast  his  first  vote  in  1864  for 
Abraham  Lincoln. 

Jerry's  early  passion  for  books  was  suc 
ceeded  by  devotion  to  newspapers  and  such 
current  literature  as  bore  upon  social  and 
political  problems.  Among  his  treasures 
that  went  down  with  the  "J.  H.  Rutter" 
were  some  bound  volumes  of  the  Congres 
sional  Record  which  he  had  read  in  quest 
of  information  as  to  what  the  great  Ameri 
can  statesmen,  in  whom  he  religiously  be 
lieved,  proposed  to  do  in  the  way  of  safe 
guarding  the  rights  and  fortunes  of  the 
whole  people. 

With  a  view  to  the  comfort  of  his 
family,  Captain  Simpson  resigned  his  com 
mand  and  bade  final  goodby  to  life  on  the 
Lakes.  He  located  temporarily  in  northern 
Indiana,  at  the  time  when  the  Grange  waa 

53 


THE  STORY  OF 

in  the  high  noon  of  its  useful  days.  The 
story  of  the  solid  service  rendered  to  Ameri 
can  progress  by  that  farmer  organization  is 
not  half  well  enough  known.  Wherever 
rural  life  was  touched  by  the  wisdom  and  the 
poetry  of  the  Grange,  there  homes  were  em 
bellished,  individual  life  ennobled  and  social 
consciousness  aroused.  The  graces  and  the 
prosaic  practicalities  were  alike  cultivated 
by  the  Grange.  It  was  through  the  Grange 
that  the  American  farmers  as  a  class  made 
their  first  incursion  into  the  economics  of  co 
operation  and  railway  transportation.  In 
all  these  Grange  studies,  Jerry  Simpson  was 
an  eager  and  thorough  student.  His  clear 
SAvift  logic  took  him  unbewildered,  straight 
through  the  mazes  of  discussion  on  the 
money  question.  The  sophistry  and  technics 
of  the  money  craft  left  him  undazed. 
Straightway  he  put  the  broad  test  of  fair 

54 


JEREY  SIMPSON. 

play  to  money  manipulation.  He  found  the 
system  lacking  justice  in  its  usage  and  ap 
plication;  it  fostered  special  privileges — 
hence  his  vote  for  Peter  Cooper,  Green- 
backer. 

Jerry  Simpson  did  not  "drift"  to  Kan 
sas.  He  never  drifted  anywhere.  He  con 
sulted  a  purposeful  chart.  The  great  story 
uf  Kansas — the  birthmarks  of  the  young 
state,  baptized  in  freedom's  blood,  appealed 
to  him.  In  18 7  8  he  came  to  Jackson  County, 
its  superb  country,  its  rich  possibilities,  won 
him.  Here,  said  he,  will  I  cast  my  lot  and 
build  a  home  for  my  loved  ones.  The 
crushing  sorrow  of  a  swift  coming  day  cast 
no  shadow  over  that  laughing  landscape. 
Jane,  little  Hallie  and  baby  Lester  were 
there  and  Jerry  was  in  love  with  life  on 
land  or  sea.  Years  afterward,  when  Vic 
tor  Murdock  asked  him  why  he  came  to  Kan- 

55 


THE  STOEY  OF 

sas,  Jerry  replied:  "The  magic  of  a  'ker 
nel,  the  'witchcraft  in  a  seed;  the  desire  to 
put  something  into  the  ground  and  see  it 
grow  and  reproduce  its  kind.  That's  why  I 
came  to  Kansas/' 

Presently  the  Knights  of  Labor  came 
to  bring  to  the  toilers  in  the  American  shops 
and  factories  something  of  the  unification 
and  enlightment  which  the  Grange  had 
brought  to  the  farmers.  The  noble  motto  of 
the  organization:  "An  injury  to  one  is  the 
concern  of  all,"  found  swift  response  in 
Jerry's  justice-loving  soul.  Hence,  his 
affiliation  with  the  Union  Labor  party  fol 
lowed  as  inevitably  as  night  follows  the  day. 
About  this  period  in  the  political  evolu 
tion  of  Jerry  Simpson,  he  came  upon  Henry 
George's  Progress  and  Poverty.  Then,  in 
deed,  he  knew  he  had  found,  in  all  its  re 
ligious  heights  and  depths,  his  own  abiding, 

56 


JEEEY  SIMPSON. 

political  gospel.  When  he  finished  reading 
the  book  he  declared  his  convictions  as  fol 
lows  :  Systems  of  finance,  methods  of  trans 
portation,  however  important  to  human  pro 
gress,  are  but  conveniences  of  the  passing 
time;  governments  may  deal  with  them  in 
accordance  with  the  shifting  conditions  of 
a  growing  civilization.  But  the  great  neces 
saries  of  human  existence  grow  in  the 
ground,  hence  the  first  and  greatest  obliga 
tion  of  government  is  to  secure  freedom  of 
land  to  all  the  people.  With  this  solid  base 
upon  which  to  operate,  all  that  is  essential 
to  the  orderly  development  of  society  will 
follow.  This  bounteous,  beautiful,  bread- 
giving  earth  is  mother  to  all  God's  family; 
whom  God  hath  joined  let  no  man  put  as 
under. 

He   had    early   observed   the   retrogres 
sion  of  political  parties  after  the  first  clean 

57 


THE  STOEY  OF 

years  of  organization  for  their  specific  pur 
poses;  and  so  he  read  them  all  his  declara 
tion  of  independence.  "Parties,"  said  he, 
"are  born  for  principles,  not  principles  for 
parties,  they  are  merely  ladders  upon  which 
truth  and  wisdom  may  climb  for  a  season." 
So,  is  it  not  clear,  that  the  political  march 
of  Jerry  Simpson,  first  Republican,  then 
Greenbacker,  then  Union  Labor,  finally  Sin 
gle  Taxer,  was  a  steady  and  orderly  proces 
sion  in  the  onward  struggle  for  justice  and 
fair  play?  It  was,  moreover,  a  thorough, 
though  unconscious  schooling  for  a  part 
that  he  was  later  on  to  play  in  a  great  na 
tional  drama. 


58 


THE  FAEMEES  ALLIANCE. 


VIII. 

The  Farmers'  Alliance. 

The  Grange  had  been  in  about  ten 
years  of  decline  when  the  Farmers'  Alliance 
came  into  existence.  Those  ten  intervening 
years  of  toil,  early  and  late,  in  the  cotton 
fields  of  the  sunny  South,  and  in  the  wheat 
and  corn  fields  of  the  boundless  West,  hud 
made  life  a  little  grayer,  a  little  less  buoy 
ant  for  the  farmer  folk.  They  were  brought 
to  face  the  fact  that  they  were  not  getting 
ahead  in  the  great  world  of  prosperity  in 
proportion  to  the  labor  they  performed  or 
the  service  they  rendered.  So  they  went 
into  the  Alliance  to  figure  out  what  to  <!.> 
about  it.  The  Grange  was  full  of  poetry; 
the  Alliance  was  full  of  politics. 
61 


THE  STOEY  OF 

Looking  back  upon  the  stirring  national 
drama  which  the  American  farmers  placed 
upon  the  boards  at  that  time,  one  sees  that  the 
comedy  was  furnished  by  the  spectators — the 
outsiders  upon  whom  blank  consternation  fell 
as  they  saw  the  farmers  North  and  South 
flouting  old  sectionalism,  invading  politics, 
shouting  their  demands,  singing  their  gospel 
songs,  and  disporting  themselves  like  conquer 
ing  hosts.  The  hitherto  docile  farmer  was  in 
rebellion.  He  said  that  he  came  into  town 
asking  how  much  he  might  have  for  the  things 
he  had  to  sell,  and  how  much  he  must  give 
for  the  things  he  had  to  buy.  He  said  he  was 
an  anomaly  in  all  the  world  of  trade  and 
commercialism;  he  was  a  questioner  at  both 
ends  of  the  bargain.  He  must  say  by  your 
leave,  sirs,  to  speculators  in  cotton  and  grain, 
and,  by  your  leave,  sirs,  to  protected  manu 
facturers  who  held  what  other  goods  his  daily 
needs  required. 

62 


JEREY  SIMPSON. 

There  were  many  smaller,  localized,  un 
related  farmer  organizations  preceeding  the 
Alliance.  The  Farmers  Mutual  Benefit  As 
sociation,  the  Agricultural  Wheel,  and,  Farm 
ers  Unions,  in  nearly  every  state  in  the 
Union.  There  were  men  of  ability  and  of 
broad  intelligence  in  each  of  the  organiza 
tions  who  saw  the  futility  and  the  folly  of 
their  isolation  and  its  consequent  impotency 
to  correct  the  injustice  of  which  they  com 
plained. 

A  call  was  sent  to  all  the  farmers  organ 
izations  in  the  country  to  meet  at  St.  Louis, 
in  1889,  to  effect  consolidation. 

The  Farmers  Alliance  of  the  South  was 
the  best  organized,  so  the  strength  and  num 
bers  of  the  other  organizations  went  to  that 
one.  It  was  then  that  speculators,  politi 
cians,  and  manipulators  in  general  sat  up 
and  took  notice. 


THE  STORY  OF 

The  new  Alliance  had  a  ritual,  pass  words, 
grips,  signs,  dues,  and  other  unknown  quan 
tities  with  which  the  unhorny-handed  wore 
not  on  speaking  terms.  The  Alliance  had  a 
religious  tone.  The  official  list  of  each  lodge 
included  a  chaplain.  The  meetings  were 
prayer  opened  and  benediction  closed.  There 
was  a  burial  service;  an  obligation  to  care 
for  the  sick  and  to  aid  the  needy.  Moreover, 
there  was  a  national  organ,  able  and  astute, 
published  at  the  national  capital.  There 
were  state  and  county  newspapers,  exponents 
of  Alliance  principles,  in  nearly  every  state, 
South  and  West.  The  consolidated  organiz 
ation  formulated  specific  demands  related  to 
national  legislation.  There  was  a  national 
Alliance  Lecturer  whose  business  it  was  to 
systematize  and  unify  instruction  relative  to 
their  legislative  demands.  Each  state,  each 
county,  and  each  lodge  had  its  own  especial 
64 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

lecturer  who  must  pass  along  the  instructions 
concerning  the  farmers  demands.  Thus  the 
Alliance  became  a  school  of  economics.  It 
was  a  masterly  method,  and  its  momentum 
was  stupenduous. 

Besides  the  farmer  and  his  wife  and  sons 
and  daughters,  there  were  eligible  to  mem 
bership,  the  country  doctor,  country  parson, 
the  country  school  teacher,  and  editors  of 
newspapers  devoted  to  the  demands  of  the 
Alliance. 

In  1890,  at  Ocala,  Florida,  the  Farm 
er's  Alliance  added,  "Industrial  Union,"  to 
its  name,  and  received  to  membership  the 
workers  from  the  shops,  the  factories  and 
mines.  This  list  very  nearly  calls  the  roll 
of  essential  service  to  any  community  or 
country.  It  would  seem  that  in  all  reason 
these  useful  and  desirable  citizens  might  de 
mand  financial  legislation  which  would  place 
65 


THE  STOEY  OF 

the  money  of  the  nation  as  easily  at  their 
convenience  as  it  was  at  the"  convenience  of 
the  legislation-favored  classes.  It  would 
seem  within  reason  that  they  might  demand 
of  their  representatives  in  Congress  such 
legislation  as  would  restrain  the  transporta 
tion  companies  from  taking  all  the  toll  the 
traffic  would  bear.  It  would  seem  to  be 
within  the  realm  of  reason  that  all  these  use 
ful  citizens  might  demand  that  the  land, 
with  all  its  treasures  of  forests,  mines  and 
fertile  fields,  should  be  safe-guarded  against 
the  rapacious  speculator  and  the  greedy  grab 
ber  so  that  there  might  be  a  heritage  within 
the  reach  of  their  children  and  their  child 
ren's  children. 

"Money,  Land  and  Transportation ;"  these 

were   the   vital   themes   which    engaged   the 

thought  and  employed  the  speech  of  Alliance 

members  for  two  solid  years.     And  they  were 

66 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

years  of  systematic,  simultaneous  study  such 
as  had  never  before  engrossed  that  class  of 
citizens  in  any  nation  in  all  the  civilized 
world. 

Jerry  Simpson  was  at  that  time  living 
on  his  ranch  in  Barber  County,  near  Medi 
cine  Lodge.  The  Alliance  claimed  him.  He 
was  prepared  by  years  of  thought,  reading 
and  experience.  He  was  by  nature  and  by 
most  genial  personality  deserving  of  the  ex 
traordinary  fealty  and  affectionate  regard 
of  his  neighbors. 

And  thus  the  curtain  rose  upon  the  pro 
logue  of  a  greater  part  for  Jerry  Simpson 
than  any  prophet  had  foretold. 


67 


AN  ALLIANCE  NEMESIS. 


THE  STOEY  OF 

a.  seat  in  Congress.  He  had  the  prestige  of 
official  position.  Moreover  he  was  personally 
popular.  He  was  erudite,  suave,  and  elo 
quent. 

John  Davis,  the  Peoples  Party  candi 
date,  was  able,  dignified,  and  greatly  es 
teemed,  but  he  lacked  platform  experience 
and  the  personal  polish  of  his  opponent. 

A  large  percentage  of  the  new  party 
men  present  at  this  gathering  had  voted  times 
before  for  Colonel  Phillips.  Party  ties  are 
strong.  The  situation  was  tense.  Both 
candidates  had  spoken.  Colonel  Phillips 
had  surpassed  himself  in  fervid  presentation 
of  the  claims  of  the  dear  old  Republican 
Party  that  Abraham  Lincoln  loved  so  well. 
The  dense  crowd  had  listened  spell  bound. 
It  seemed  to  the  Republican  orator,  as  he 
closed  with  a  matchless  peroration,  and  sat 
down  flushed  and  glowing,  that  he  had  re- 

72 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

captured  the  voters  and  won  the  victory.  It 
did  not  seem  to  count  that  there  was  no 
noisy  demonstration.  The  solemn  silence 
gave  even  better  promise  than  applause. 

Hardly  was  Colonel  Phillips  seated, 
when  way  at  the  back  of  the  crowd,  a  high- 
pitched  voice  sent  out  a  shrill,  long-drawn, 
quavering  cry,  which  shivered  through  the 
crowd  as  if  freighted  with  anguish  and  alarm: 
"Say  you  !  Say  you !  Say  you !" 
Turning  to  whence  the  strange  challenge 
came,  there  towered  the  tall,  guant  figure  of 
an  old  woman.  With  calico  sunbonnet 
pushed  back  from  her  grizzled  head,  with 
piteously  poor  apparel,  she  stood  a  very  sym 
bol  of  ill-requited  labor.  With  face  aflame, 
with  long,  bony  arm  stretched  at  length,  with 
toil-distorted  hand,  and  fearsome  forefinger 
pointed  at  the  perspiring  orator,  as  if  sum 
moning  him  before  the  bar  of  eternal  justice, 
73 


THE  STOEY  OF 

she  continued  her  weird  chant: 

"Say  you !  It  aint  no  use  you  a-talkin', 
an'  a-talkin',  an'  a-talkin'.  It  aint  no  use 
you  a-talkin',  you  aint  never  Done  nothin* 
for  Us,  an'  you  never  will." 

If  any  Alliance  man  in  all  that  crowd 
had  wavered  under  the  spell  of  Colonel  Phil 
lips'  eloquence ;  if  there  had  been  any  tugging 
of  heart  strings  toward  old  and  cherished 
party  affiliations,  they  were  called  off  by  that 
weird  arraignment. 

The  crowd  was  silent  no  longer.  Cheer 
upon  cheer,  shout  upon  shout,  a  perfect  whirl 
of  ecstatic  acclaim  told  Colonel  Phillips  that 
he  had  lost  the  day — even  as  on  a  later  day, 
he  lost  the  election  to  Congress. 


THE  PEOPLE'S  PARTY. 


X. 

The  People's  Party. 

Remembering  the  great  beginnings  of 
Kansas — how  there  had  foregathered  on  her 
freedom-consecrated  soil,  men  sublimely  pur 
posed  to  live  or  die  for  justice,  it  was  surely 
befitting  that  the  "People's  Party"  should 
have  its  genesis  in  that  state. 

Victor  Hugo  said  of  the  Battle  of  Water 
loo,  "It  was  not  a  battle,  it  was  a  great  change 
of  front  of  the  universe." 

Likewise,  this  People's  Party  was  not, 
viewed  as  to  its  significant  portent  and  its  ul 
timate  destiny,  a  mere  political  party.  It 
was  a  movement  which  projected  a  new  prin 
ciple  into  the  policies  of  the  nation. 

77 


THE  STOEY  OF 

The  People's  Party  declared  for  govern 
ment  ownership  of  railways  and  telegraphs. 
This  brought  forward  the  fundamental  doc 
trine  of  public  ownership  of  public  utilities. 

The  widespread  discussion  on  this  line 
brought  out  the  ethics  as  well  as  the  econo 
mics  of  collective  ownership. 

The  elimination  of  private  profit  from 
public  service  was  urged  as  a  corrective  of 
legislation  corruption  and  of  personal  demor 
alization. 

Temptation  to  unwholesome  accumula 
tion  lurks  in  the  strong  box  of  profits. 

With  profits  deflected  from  the  private 
purse  to  the  public  use,  the  tricks  of  the 
tempter  and  the  tempted  would  pass  into  ob 
solescence  and  private  and  public  morals 
would  rise  from  the  dust  of  the  old  regime. 

Public  ownership  was  further  urged  as 
a  means  whereby  the  manual  laborer,  en- 
78 


JEEEY  SIMPSON. 

gaged  in  the  operation  of  -enterprises  of  great 
magnitude,  might  secure  the  national  guaran 
tee  of  shortened  toil  and  adequate  remuner 
ation. 

For  the  first  time  in  the  life  of  the 
great  Republic  there  was  a  political  organiza 
tion  which  grappled  directly  and  fundamen 
tally  with  the  gross  injustice  which  marked 
the  dealings  between  Exploiters  and  the  Ex 
ploited  in  the  realm  of  industrialism.  It 
marked  the  beginning  of  an  entire  change  of 
front  of  things  Governmental  in  relation  to 
to  the  Server  and  the  Served. 

All  this  is  true  to  history,  despite  the 
fact,  that  the  written  platforms  of  the  Peoples 
Party  made  but  partial  statement  of  the 
basic  theory.  Nor  does  it  change  the  great 
fact  because  a  multitude  of  men  inside  the 
party  ranks  were  unillumined  as  to  the  scope 
of  its  mission.  Nor  yet  does  it  count  against 
79 


THE  STORY  OF 

the  truth,  to  note  that  the  mere  party  died; 
that  it  accomplished  little  directly  in  legis 
lation,  and  that  the  whole  stirring  drama  has 
passed  into  reminisence. 

It  is  withal  true,  that  in  1890,  in  Kan 
sas,  there  was  articulated,  in  political  party 
vernacular,  the  cry  of  the  human,  seeking 
relief  from  ages-old  burdens.  Dumb  drudg 
ery  was  climbing  painfully  from  its  abyss. 

To  the  low  browed  artizan  of  stunted 
life,  to 

"The  motherless  girl,  whose  fingers  thin, 
Push  from  her  faintly,   want  and  sin" 

—to  such  as  these,  the  new  party  called  out: 
"I  am  coming  to  the  rescue:  the  great  relief 
march  is  begun.  Someday,  somehow,  such 
as  ye  are  shall  no  more  make  moan,  in  this 
fair,  sweet  world,  so  overfull  of  God's  rich, 
bounteous  stores. 

Jerry  Simpson,  gifted  by  nature  with 
80 


JEERY  SIMPSON. 

sympathy  and  imagination,  mentally  enriched 
by  a  wide  range  of  reading,  spiritually  il 
lumined  by  the  religious  fervor  of  Henr\ 
George's  gospel,  and  made  thrice  tenderwise 
toward  all  sorrow — toward  all  suffering — by 
the  great  grief  that  had  crushed  into  his  life, 
was  to  the  front  among  those  who  knew  the 
full  freighted  meaning  and  the  inexorable 
purpose  of  the  new  party.  He  knew  that 
despite  its  stammerings,  its  half  uttered 
truths,  its  timid  baitings  in  the  face  of  ven 
ture  and  its  blemishes  of  personnel,  it  was 
still  the  progenitor  of  a  new  order  and  a  new 
time  when  equity  and  righteousness  among 
all  people  would  prevail.  In  his  speech  at 
the  inauguration  of  Governor  Lewelling,  he 
skid:  "Today  we  are  witnessing  the  install 
ation  of  the  first  People's  Governor  on  earth." 
The  first  defiant  move  of  the  political 
revolution  of  1890,  was  made  at  Hill  City, 
81 


THE  STOEY  OF 

Kansas.  There  the  Alliance  took  the  bit  in 
its  teeth,  locked  the  lodge  doors  against  un- 
sanctified  outsiders,  took  up  the  pass  word 
from  the  brethren  and  proceeded  to  nominate 
William  Baker,  one  of  their  very  own,  a 
tiller  of  the  soil,  a  non  politician,  for  their 
representative  to  Congress. 

Oh,  what  a  howl  was  there,  mj  country 
men  !  The  constitution  and  all  other  things 
patriotic  and  polite  had  been  flouted.  Poli 
ticians  and  other  unthinking  folk  were  scan 
dalized — even  livid  with  rage.  But  you  see, 
the  Alliance  men  were  in  battle  array  for 
fair  play  in  legislation,  they  were  intent  up 
on  safe-guarding  themselves  against  the  se 
ductive  eloquence,  the  parliamentary  tactics 
and  the  oiled  maneuvers  of  the  wily  politi 
cians  who  had  theretofore  dominated,  flatter 
ed  and — betrayed  them.  Moreover,  there 
were  the  Alliance  women,  also  in  holy 
82 


JEEEY  SIMPSON. 

earnest.  They  saw  straight  through  the 
economic  issues  to  their  effects  upon  their 
hearthsides  and  their  younglings.  The  white 
hot  zeal  of  those  electric  days  was  fed  to  ful 
ness  by  the  wives,  mothers  and  daughters  of 
the  voters.  It  was  the  women  who  cooked 
the  picnic  good  things,  who  sang  the  Alliance 
songs,  marched  in  the  parades  and  never 
once  played  Lot's  wife  on  the  party  question. 

The  constitution  was  not  again  assaulted 
by  an  Alliance  nomination.  The  state  was 
rapidly  organized  with  due  regard  to  party 
law  and  order.  County,  congressional  and 
state  tickets,  were  named  and  the  fight  was 
on.  And  what  a  fight  it  was.  ISTo  time, 
away  from  armed  and  bloody  conflict,  had 
ever  seen  its  like. 

Throughout  that  historic  summer  and 
fall  of  1890,  the  great  mass  meetings  of  the 
party  were  held  in  "God's  first  temples." 
83 


THE  STORY  OF 

The  solemn  prayers,  the  fervid  exhortations 
full  of  stories  of  the  distressed,  the  homeless 
and  the  helpless  everywhere,  made  the  major 
ity  of  the  meetings  more  like  religious  re 
vivals  than  like  unto  any  ever  before  known 
in  the  realm  of  politics. 

Emerson  was  being  verified  :  "Every 
reform  is  at  heart  religious." 

The  opponents  of  the  Peoples  Party 
strove  to  brand  it  as  unpatriotic — yea,  even 
as  an  abettor  and  hatchery  of  treason.  A 
pretext  was  found  in  the  official  roster  of  the 
National  Farmers  Alliance,  whose  president 
was  Colonel  L.  L.  Polk,  of  North  Carolina. 

Colonel  Polk  came  to  Kansas  at  the 
behest  of  the  State  Alliance.  He  was  gentle, 
humane  and  full  of  love  toward  his  fellow 
men,  but,  being  Southern  born  and  bred,  he 
had  been  an  officer  in  the  Confederate  Army. 
Well,  the  spasms  of  rage  that  distorted  cer- 
84 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

tain  patriots,  were  painful  to  look  upon. 
You  really  would  not  have  thought  that  patri 
otism  could  act  that  way  upon  the  human 
system.  Still,  when  you  stop  to  think,  some 
answer  to  the  arguments  of  the  new  party 
had  to  he  made,  so,  in  lieu  of  relevancy,  the 
cry,  "rebellion  redivivus,"  was  perhaps  about 
the  best  that  could  be  done. 

Jerry  Simpson  talked  back  at  this  treas 
on  charge,  after  this  fashion.  "You  Repub 
lican  fellows  are  mightily  afraid  of  the  ghosts 
of  Rebel  Brigadiers,  you  ought  to  get  over  it. 
Brace  up,  the  war  is  over.  The  flag's  a-wav- 
ing  down  South.  My  gentle  sirs,  put  on  your 
goggles  and  watch  the  buccaneers  of  Wall 
Street;  the  brigands  of  the  tariff;  and  the 
whole  shootin'  match  of  grain  gamblers,  land 
grabbers,  and  Government  sneak  thieves,  be 
fore  they  steal  you  blind.  Fire  away  at 
them  and  don't  get  nightmares  over  Rebel 
85 


THE  STOEY  OF 

Brigadiers." 

The  first  platform  of  the  Peoples  Party 
had  a  declaration  favoring  the  pensioning  of 
all  honorably  discharged  soldiers.  One  time, 
a  debate  was  arranged,  with  two  Republican 
lawyers  on  one  side,  and  a  Peoples  Party 
woman,  on  the  other.  Courtesy  prevailed; 
but  one  of  the  legal  gentlemen  blended  with 
his  personal  compliments,  a  note  of  sorrow 
that  the  most  estimable  lady,  his  opponent, 
herself,  no  doubt,  a  patriot,  should  be  so  woe 
fully  misled  —  so  dangerously  hypnotized 
into  rank  treason  by  "Brigadier  General" 
Polk.  In  ponderous  proof,  thereof,  he  read 
from  the  Peoples  Party  platform,  the  declara 
tion  anent  the  pensioning  of  all  honorably 
discharged  soldiers.  With  waring  forefinger 
and  all  but  trickling  tears,  he  besought  the 
lady  to  notice  the  absence  of  the  word 
"union"  which  should  have  been  prefixed  to 
86 


JERKY  SIMPSON. 

"soldier."  So,  there  it  stood,  in  all  its 
naked  treason — the  black  design  of  Rebel- 
dom,  whose  dupes  and  tools,  we  Kansans 
were.  The  Southern  purpose,  plainly  being, 
to  pension  their  confederate  soldiers.  And 
then,  the  speaker  sat  him  down,  as  if  o'er- 
come  by  the  deadly  peril  to  his  country. 

The  hall  was  densely  packed,  a  crowd 
stood  outside  the  open  windows,  and  from 
thence  a  "hayseed"  voice  piped  out:  "Oh, 
come  off!  Don't  you  know  them  there  John 
ny  Rebs  aint  honorably  discharged  soldiers, 
they're  prisoners  on  parole.  Any  fool  might 
'a  known  that." 

When  the  cheers  subsided,  the  lady 
speaker  laughingly  recited  a  list,  well  nigh  a 
dozen  long,  of  truly  Rebel  Brigadiers  who 
long  had  been  perched  high  in  national  Re 
publican  office  and  toward  whom  her  alarmed 
and  tearful  monitor  had  doubtless  never  cast 
87 


THE  STOKY  OF 

one  glance  of  terror  in  all  the  years  of  their 
most  honored  incumbency. 

A  little  book,  aSeven  Financial  Conspir 
acies,"  figured  as  a  favorite  reference  in  the 

Peoples  Party.  It  was  the  target  of  much 
scornful,  Republican  speech  —  "all  silly 
tales/  '  they  said.  Whereat,  the  Peoples 
Party  man  would  strike  an  attitude  and 
orate  lustily,  quoting  Republican  Senator 
Plumb :  "Wall  Street  and  the  United  States 
Treasury  are  in  partnership  and  these  con 
spiracies  will  breed  revolution." 

Republicans  frequently  taunted  the  new 
party  men  with  base  ingratitude  in  leaving 
the  grand  old  party  of  "Protection."  Where 
at  the  taunted  ones  would  jauntily  toss  back 
a  quotation  from  Republican  Senator  Ingalls : 
"The  tariff  is  of  no  more  consequence  than 
a  fly  on  a  cart  wheel ;  it  is  an  instrument  for 
tomfoolery  and  juggling." 

88 


JERKY  SIMPSON. 

Oh,  they  were  posted,  those  hayseeds 
and  clodhoppers  of  1890,  and  when  Republi 
cans  attacked  them 

"They  mocked  'em  and  they  shocked  'em 
An'  they  said  they  didn't  care." 

But  in  their  heart  of  hearts,  they  did 
care.  It  was  no  light  thing  to  break  the 
party  ties  of  a  lifetime.  There  were  old 
Republicans  whose  faces  sometimes  took  on 
the  pallor  of  the  coffin  time  as  they  sang, 
"Good-by  Old  Party,  Good-by."  And  by  that 
token  you  may  know  how  strong  was  their 
belief  in  the  principles  and  purposes  of  the 
new  party. 

The  strangest  thing  of  all,  was  the  mis 
understanding  of  hosts  of  good  men  and 
women  who,  had  their  hour  of  awakening 
but  arrived,  would  have  been  with  the  move 
ment,  heart  and  hand.  Ten  years  or  so  later, 
when  many,  very  many,  of  these  same  people 
89 


THE  STORY  OF 

became  alarmed  by  the  devastations  of  com 
mercial  combinations,  incensed  by  corrupt 
officialdom,  and  outraged  by  flagrant  favorit 
ism  in  legislation,  they  courageously  took  up 
the  task  of  working  out  the  problems  and 
carrying  on  the  work  so  startlingly  begun  in 
1890. 

It  was  the  quickened  fraternalism,  the 
perfervid  fellowship  with  all  the  hosts  of 
back-bent  men  whose  lives  were  filled  from 
birth  to  death  with  ill  requited  toil;  it  was 
the  tender  sympathy  with  overburdened 
womanhood,  with  defrauded  childhood;  in 
short,  it  was  the  keen,  biting  sense  of  the 
injustice  of  it  all,  that  made  the  new  party 
invincible  and  prolonged  its  career  until  it 
had  innoculated  the  older  parties,  and  the 
whole  nation  had  risen  to  a  higher  level  of 
understanding  of  wrongs  which  press  upon 
humanity  and  of  evil  ways  which  menace 

90 


JERKY  SIMPSOJST. 

national  integrity. 

Greatly  blessed  were  the  men  and 
women  of  that  epoch  in  American  history, 
who,  through  propinquity  or  prescience,  were 
privileged  to  be  in  and  of  the  Peoples  Party, 


91 


THE  PERSONNEL  OF  THE  PEO 
PLE'S  PARTY. 


XL 

The  Personnel  of  the  People's  Party. 

The  personnel  of  the  Peoples  Party 
typified  the  entire  social  state. 

It  ranged  all  the  way  from  the  un 
lettered  toilers,  whose  lives  of  deprivation 
had  stranded  them  in  illiteracy,  poverty  of 
speech  and  uncouth  maners,  on  to  the  very 
flower  of  American  culture,  intellectual 
greatness,  refinement  and  social  standing. 

Henry  D.  Lloyd,  Kami  in  Garland,  B. 
O.    Flower,    Eev.    D.    P.    Bliss,    Professor 
Frank  Parsons  and  Ignatius  Donnelly  were 
among  the  pioneer  propagandists. 
95 


THE  STOEY  OF 

In  Kansas,  among  lawyers  who  were 
with  the  party  from  the  first,  were  Judge 
Frank  Doster  and  G.  C.  Clemens,  whom  but 
to  name  is  to  announce  superiority. 

Among  the  scores  of  newspaper  men, 
whose  writings  served  to  mold  and  unify  the 
new  party  sentiment.  There  were  the  Vincent 
Brothers — reformers,  blood  and  bone.  There 
was  John  Davis,  with  many  years  of  solid 
service.  There  was  Dr.  McLallin,  clear 
brained  and  dependable  as  the  polar-star. 

Dr.  McLallin's  paper,  the  Advocate,  was 
first  the  official  organ  of  the  Alliance  and 
later  the  official  paper  of  the  Peoples  Party. 
In  those  turbulent,  uncertain  clays,  when  the 
daily  press  purveyed  the  wildest  rumors,  the 
bitterest  personalities  and  reports  afar  from 
facts;  the  new  party  folk  would  read,  shake 
their  heads  in  doubt  or  derision,  and  remark : 
"We'll  wait  until  the  Advocate  comes,  then 
96 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

we'll  know  the  straight  truth  about  it  all." 

Very  many  of  the  early  speakers  rose 
through  fervor,  sincerity  and  clear  statement 
to  great  speech — at  times,  to  eloquence;  but 
transcending  all  in  oratorical  power  there 
was  Mary  Elizabeth  Lease. 

Ah,  how  the  fingers  of  the  writer  of  this 
story,  throb  with  desire,  which  must  be 
denied,  to  write  herein  honored  names,  num 
bering  into  thousands,  of  great  souled  Kan 
sas  men  and  women,  personally  esteemed  and 
affectionately  remembered,  who  were  enlisted 
in  the  great  Crusade  of  1890. 

Upon  the  farms  and  in  the  ranks  of 
labor,  were  men  and  women  of  fine  education 
and  choice  culture.  And  among  those  less 
fortunate,  it  must  not  be  inferred,  that  the 
superficial  thing  which  is  named,  illiteracy, 
necessarily  betokens  ignorance  or  coarseness 
of  character.  Incorrect  speech,  even  small 
97 


THE  STORY  OF 

acquaintance  with  books,  tells  no  sure  story, 
save  one  of  lack  of  schooling  or  untoward 
circumstance. 

Nothing  short  of  taking  a  club  and  beat 
ing  Jerry  Simpson  into  insensibility  and 
into  a  change  of  individuality  could  ever  have 
taught  him  how  to  spell  or  to  refrain  from 
wholly  unprecedented  pronunciation  of  cer 
tain  words.  Readin'  and  Arithmetic  were 
his,  but  spellin'  and  writin'  were  alien  and 
hostile.  And  yet  he  reveled  in  the  choicest 
literature.  Stevenson  enthralled  him,  Kip 
ling  delighted  him  Tennyson  enraptured  him 
Emerson  inspired  him,  Dickens  was  his  very 
own.  History,  Philosophy,  and  Social  Sci 
ence  were  included  in  his  wide  range  of 
reading.  And  still,  it  is  doubtless  true,  as 
was  charged  by  a  political  foe,  that  he  some 
times  misspelled  the  name  of  the  town  in 
which  he  lived.  Jerry  smilingly  drawled 
98 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

out  in  reply  to  this  taunt:  "Well,  maybe  I 
don't  always  spell  the  name  of  that  town  just 
right,  but  I  wouldn't  give  a  cent  for  a  man 
who  couldn't  spell  a  word  more  than  one 
way." 

The  common  sense,  the  good  judgment, 
the  first  hand  knowledge,  born  of  observation 
or  experience,  diffused  among  the  rank  and 
file  of  this  phalanx  of  the  nation's  useful 
citizens  challenge  comparison  with  any  pre- 
ceeding  political  party. 

The  party  issues  were  no  mere  hear-say 
stories,  no  matters  of  indirect  concern.  The 
things  complained  of,  were  things  they  had 
experienced.  The  remedies  they  asked  for 
had  been  considered  day  by  day,  and  year  by 
year. 

All  of  this  is  to  the  good.  Now,  what 
should  history  say  as  to  the  personal  unworth, 

99 


THE  STOKY  OF 


self-seeking,  or  base  design  in  the  new  party  ? 
Merely  this ;  that  it  was  of  small  percentage, 
existent  as  a  negligible  quantity  at  the  out 
set,  but  perchance,  as  has  ever  been  the  way 
of  parties,  augmented  as  victory  and  success 
attracted  and  tempted  the  vanity  or  cupidity 
of  human  nature. 


100 


SOCKLESS  SOCEATES  AND  PRINCE 
HAL. 


XII. 

Bookless  Socrates  and  Prince  Hoi. 

vv;/. 

Here  he  stands,  the  Sockless  Socrates  of 
1890,  before  a  vast  crowd  of  fellow  citizens. 
Many  of  them  are  applauding  wildly;  some 
are  silent,  sullen  and  hostile.  The  faces  of 
the  approving  ones  are  luminous — alive  with 
joy.  Most  of  the  applauders  have  been  pas- 
sioii-swept  by  worship  of  political  idols  in 
former  days,  but  this  time  it  is  different; 
their  other  great  men  were  a  trifle  aloof — 
just  'enough  aloof  to  make  it  very  blissful  to 
be  numbered  among  their  marching  torch 
bearers  and  to  be  spoken  to  by  the  great  one 
"just  as  common-like  as  if  he  were  one  of 
us."  But  this  time,  as  to  Jerry — well  he 
is  their  very  own,  they  are  thrilled 
103 


THE  STORY  OF 

by  a  sense  of  kinship,  they  feel  it  in 
the  marrow  of  their  bones.  The  kin 
ship  is  closer  than  that  of  craft  or 
vocation;  it  is  born  of  sincerest  champion 
ship.  Jerry  Simpson  is  the  voice  of  their 
needs,  their  burdens,  their  longings,  their 
hopes,  their  aspirations,  and  on  him  they  rest 
in  perfect  fullness  of  belief:  He  bespeaks 
a  better  day :  He  heralds  a  new  era  of  an  all 
embracing  fraternity.  There  is  no  quiver 
of  doubt  in  his  tone  for  he  too  believes 
through  all  the  innermost  reaches  of  his  be 
ing. 

Notice  as  he  comes  to  the  platform  front 
his  slightly  lurching  gait,  reminescent  of 
sailor  days,  his  muscular  build,  his  broad 
shoulders,  his  lithe,  supple  frame.  He  is  an 
athlete.  His  face  is  a  blend  of  rugged 
strength  and  keen  intelligence.  His  clear, 
brown  eyes  look  men  and  measures  squarely 
104 


JERKY  SIMPSON. 

in  the  face.  There  is  no  flutter  of  self- 
consciousness  nor  any  self-assertion  in  his 
manner.  E"o  man  ever  faced  crowds  of  his 
fellow  men  with  more  serene,  unshakable 
confidence  in  the  eternal  verity  of  the  mes 
sage  he  bore. 

But  there  is  something  besides  sym 
pathy,  something  other  than  exhaltation  of 
spirit  that  Jerry's  audiences  expect:  they 
expect  to  be  entertained — to  be  wrenched  by 
aching  laughter.  And  so  the  applause  is 
prolonged,  it  rises  to  a  roar,  it  breaks  into  a 
laugh  before  a  word  is  said.  And  then  the 
earnest,  half -sad  face  that  Jerry  brought  to 
the  front  begins  to  glow  as  if  from  some 
warm  light  back  of  the  features,  the  brown 
eyes  twinkle  mischievously,  he  responds  to 
the  call — he  is  himself  amused.  His  firm 
mouth  widens  into  a  straight  line  across  his 
face  and,  well,  it  must  be  said,  he  is  grinning. 
105 


THE  STORY  OF 

Truly  "grin"  is  not  a  dignified  word  but 
there  is  none  other  nearer  to  veracious  des 
cription.  If  ever  there  was  another  man 
who  could  grin  and  not  look  weak  or  silly  the 
writer  of  this  story  never  heard  of  him. 
This  grin  was  purely  a  Jerryesque  achieve 
ment.  It  was  the  most  mirth  provoking 
facial  expression  ever  presented  to  a  helpless 
audience.  It  did  not  suggest  buffoonery  nor 
hint  of  the  harlequin.  You  saw  before  you 
just  a  big,  good  natured  boy  and  you  laughed, 
not  at,  but  with  him.  And  right  then  was 
the  moment  for  the  sullen  ones  to  reinforce 
their  disapproval,  to  rebarricade  their  hostile 
grounds  lest  they  be  drawn  within  the  in 
fluence  of  this  strange,  irresistable  man.  Lest 
they  listen  with  minds  too  open  to  the  swiftly 
flashing  changes  of  the  Sockless  Socrates  as 
he  passes  from  comedy  to  argument;  to  con 
cise  statement  of  facts;  to  pathetic  story  of 
106 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

human  misery;  to  appeal  to  love  of  country; 
to  prophecy  of  better  days  when  God's 
abounding  stores  shall  be  justly  apportioned 
to  all  gladsome  workers. 

The  Sockless  Socrates  knew  that  the 
first  part  of  the  great  task  set  for  those  whoso 
political  creeds  were  like  his  own  was  to  clear 
the  way;  to  expose  misdeeds  and  to  arraign 
misdoers.  So  he  accuses,  assails,  batters 
and  ridicules  without  stint  and  apparently 
without  mercy.  Yet  ever  there  is  back  of  his 
stinging  sarcasm,  back  of  his  flashing  fury 
&  personal  note  of  gentleness  as  if  above  all 
he  felt  the  great  pity  of  it  and  as  if  he  held 
an  abiding  conviction  that  there  was  more  of 
good  than  of  evil  even  among  those  whom  he 
arraigned. 

In  his  first  campaign  for  Congress  Jer- 
rv  had  for  his  opponent  Colonel  James  R. 
Hallowell,  one  time  United  States  Attorney 
107 


THE  STORY  OF 

and  a  distinguished  corporation  lawyer.  Col. 
Hallowell  was  college  bred,  a  polished  orator, 
a  high  social  favorite  and  a  most  fastidious 
dresser.  His  extreme  personal  aloofness  and 
unlikeness  to  the  great  majority  of  the  rural 
constituents  he  sought  to  represent  in  Con 
gress  gave  Jerry  much  leverage  among  the 
voters  he  addressed.  The  Republican  press 
teemed  with  reckless  characterization  of 
Jerry  as  a  clown,  an  ignoramus,  a  boor  and  a 
rag-a-muffin.  Jerry  retorted  by  nicknaming 
his  opponent  "Prince  Hall."  "This  prince 
of  royal  blood,"  said  Jerry,  "travels  in  his 
special  car,  his  dainty  person  is  gorgeously 
bedizened,  his  soft  white  hands  are  pretty 
things  to  look  at,  his  tender  feet  are  encased 
in  fine  silk  hosiery,  what  does  he  know  of 
the  life  and  the  toil  of  such  plow-handlers 
as  we  are  ?  I  can't  represent  you  in  Con 
gress  with  silk  stockings — I  can't  afford  to 
108 


JEKEY  SIMPSON. 


Straightway  from  the  fertile  pen  of 
Victor  Murdock,  then  a  youthful  reporter, 
now  Jerry  Simpson's  successor  in  Congress, 
the  story  flew  and  the  title  "Sockless  Jerry" 
grew.  Later,  William  Allen  White  elimin 
ated  "Jerry"  and  substituted  "Socrates." 
Jerry  joined  in  the  fun  and  jollity  which 
the  campaign  crowds  got  out  of  it,  although 
in  later  days  the  "sockless"  story  became  irk 
some  because  of  the  many  coarse  and  un 
warranted  variations  it  underwent. 

Those  were  days  of  parades,  miles  upon 
miles  long.  Those  on  Jerry's  side  far  out- 
sized  and  out-classed  the  attempts  of  Prince 
Hal's  friends.  The  fiery  zeal  of  the  friends 
of  Sockless  Socrates  knew  no  bounds.  Their 
banners,  their  bands,  their  tableaux  sur 
passed  in  number  and  originality  anything 
before  exhibited  in  spectacular  campaigning. 
109 


THE  STORY  OF 

Every  political  demand  was  emblazoned  on 
their  banners:  "Down  with  Wall  Street," 
"Give  Us  Fifty  Dollars  Per  Capita,"  "Give 
the  farmers  as  fair  a  chance  as  you  give  the 
bankers."  Floats  laden  with  girls  knitting 
socks  for  Jerry  were  in  the  parades.  During 
the  campaign  the  "sockless"  candidate  was 
presented  with  more  than  three  hundred  pairs 
of  socks. 

It  appeared  incredible  to  the  entrenched 
Republicans  of  the  Big  7th  District  that 
Jerry  Simpson  could  win  over  their  trained 
and  resourceful  candidate. 

Here  is  the  story  of  Colonel  Hallo  well's 
experience  with  Jerry  as  told  by  Col 
onel  "Marsh"  Murdock,  one  of  the  most 
influential  Republican  editors  of  that  con 
gressional  district. :  "Our  candidate  was  a 
crack  stump  speaker.  He  was  "known  all 
over  Kansas  as  a  crack  orator.  We  thought 
110 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

that  Jerry  would  not  dare  to  face  him  on  the 
platform.,  and  we  knew  that  if  we  could  get 
them  together  our  man  would  wipe  the  floor 
with  Jerry. .  .So  we  challenged  Jerry  to  joint 
debate.  If  he  refused  ive  were  to  have  the 
laugh  on  him.  If  he  accepted  he  was  to  be 
used  up.  He  accepted  and  arrangements 
were  made  for  a  series  of  joint  meetings. 
One  meeting  came  off — only  one.  Our  man 
never  appeared  at  another.  Why  with  the 
audiences  that  turned  out  afi  those  meetings 
our  candidate  wasn't  any  match  for  Jerry  at 
all" 

The  "Big  7th"  had  been  "safely"  Re 
publican  by  14,000  majority,  but  when  the 
November  votes  were  counted  Prince  Hal 
had  lost  by  nearly  8,000  votes  and  the  Sock- 
less  Socrates  had  won  his  seat  in  Congress. 


Ill 


JEEEY  AEEIYES  AT  WASHINGTON. 


XIII. 

Jerry  Arrives  at  Washington. 

Enrotite  to  Washington,  December  1890, 
Jerry  Simpson,  Congressman-elect,  attended 
that  great  meeting  of  the  National  Farmer's 
Alliance  at  Ocala,  Florida.  Unstinted  and 
most  lavish  entertainment  was  given  by  Flori- 
dians  to  the  convention  delegates.  No 
beauty  spot  in  all  that  land  of  flowers  and 
orange  groves  was  left  unvisited.  During 
all  those  gala  days  that  counted  into  weeks, 
at  every  festal  board,  at  barbecue,  in  orange 
grove,  a-sailing  down  St.  John's,  at  morning, 
noon  or  night  time  halting  of  the  special 
trains,  the  waiting,  welcoming  people  would 
call,  "A  speech,  a  speech  from  Jerry  Simp 
son."  And  every  time  our  Jerry  flashed  a 

115 


THE  STORY  OF 

new,  quaint,  humorous,  little  gem  of  speech. 

Out  on  the  waters  of  Pensecola  Bay  as 
guests  of  Senator  Mallory,  Jane  and  Jerry 
visited  the  Life  Saving  Station  and  there 
were  greeted  by  the  self  same  crew  who  res 
cued  Captain  Simpson  and  his  men  from 
the  sinking  J.  H.  Ratter.  How  strangely 
human  crafts  do  drift  apart,  then  meet  again 
upon  the  sea  of  life. 

At  old  St.  Augustine  Jerry  was  one  of 
the  guests  entertained  at  the  luxurious  Ponce 
de  Leon.  With  what  perfect  ease  he 
adapted  himself  to  those  exquisite  and  ele 
gant  surroundings.  As  usual  the  call  came 
from  the  citizens  assembled  in  the  parlors  of 
the  hotel  for  "a  speech  from  Jerry."  His 
response  was  a  little  model  of  tact  and  good 
taste,  combining  therewith  a  few  serious,  il 
luminating  sentences,  anent  the  mission  of 
the  Peoples  Party,  which  meant  not  to  level 
116 


JEKEY  SIMPSON. 

down  but  to  upbuild  and  to  create  more  and 
more  of  art  and  beauty  in  the  world;  and 
furthermore  to  give  the  artisan  a  chance  to 
become  an  artist.  Why  said  he,  there's  none 
of  all  this  too  good  or  fine  for  all  of  us. 
Then  with  a  quick  turn  to  whimsy  he  said, 
"I'm  going  back  to  Kansas  to  sell  my  last 
year's  crop  so  I  can  come  back  and  put  up 
at  this  hotel  for  a  day." 

As  it  was  through  Florida,  so  it  was  in 
New  York  when  Jerry  wrent  to  speak  to  the 
Single  Taxers  at  Cooper  Union — everywhere 
he  won  his  way  to  the  approval  and  affection 
of  those  who  learned  to  know  him. 

At  the  National  Capitol  he  had  been 
pre-announced  as  a  freak  and  a  boor;  yet  at 
the  first  great  public  meeting  where  he  spoke 
the  not  over  friendly  reporters  were  captiv 
ated.  Said  one,  "Jerry  Simpson  is  a  dia 
mond  in  the  rough,  be  will  rival  the  more 

117 


THE  STOEY  OF 

polished  Ingalls  as  a  credit  to  Kansas." 

Upon  the  assembling  of  Congress  Jerry 
was  chosen  by  the  little  band  of  Peoples 
Party  and  Alliance  men,  hailing  from  Min 
nesota,  Nebraska,  Kansas,  Georgia,  and  other 
Southern  states,  as  leader  and  spokesman  for 
the  reform  party.  Certain  old  party  mem 
bers  started  in  to  make  sport  of  him  and  of 
the  new  party  declarations.  In  each  and 
every  instance  the  would  be  tormentors  re 
tired  from  the  fray  with  pain  and  surprise. 
Jerry's  retorts  were  nearly  always  good 
natured,  uttered  in  quaint,  drawling  tones 
and  embellished  by  his  choicest  grin.  Upon 
rare  occasions,  however,  he  would  administer 
a  serious  rebuke  to  levity  aimed  at  Peoples 
Party  principles. 

Shortly  after  Jerry  took  his  seat  in  Con 
gress,     an    unwitting    Republican    Member 
sneeringly  said:     "Now  give  us  something 
118 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

about  your  people  burning  corn."  "Yes," 
replied  Jerry,  "they  did  burn  corn,  and  by 
the  light  of  that  burning  corn  they  read  the 
history  of  the  Republican  Party.  That  is 
why  the  Peoples  Party  carried  the  state." 
No  Member  of  the  House  ever  committed 
the  error  of  twice  attacking  Jerry  expecting 
him  to  fall  an  easy  prey. 

One  day  a  rash  young  correspondent  of 
an  eastern  newspaper  approached  Jerry  with 
an  air  of  now-see-me-poke-fun  at  this  Sock- 
less  fellow,  and  said,  "What  do  you  think  of 
the  McKinley  bill  ?"  Jerry  drew  the  grin 
across  his  face,  his  eyes  shot  mischief  through 
his  spectacles  as  he  answered,  "I  am  going 
to  look  that  little  matter  up,  and  if  I  find  the 
bill  correct  I  shall  vote  that  it  be  paid." 

During  this  his  first  term  in  Congress 
Jerry  Simpson  was  a  tireless  student  and  a 
matchless  champion  of  his  political  prin- 
119 


THE  STORY  OF 

ciples.  From  the  floor  of  the  national  House 
of  Representatives  he  spoke  to  the  whole 
nation.  Thus  was  the  high  destiny  for 
which  all  his  years  had  fitted  him  being  ful 
filled. 


120 


SENATOK  LONG.  AND  JEKKY 
SIMPSON. 


XIV. 

Senator  Long  and  Jerry  Simpson. 

Through  four  deeply  significant  and 
hotly  contested  congressional  campaigns 
Chester  I.  Long  of  Medicine  Lodge,  and 
Jerry  Simpson  were  pitted  against  each 
other.  Jerry  was  twice  victorious  and  twice 
the  victory  went  to  Mr.  Long  who  later  be 
came  United  States  Senator. 

The  early  fervor  and  zeal  of  Jerry's 
constituents  continued  and  their  admiration 
and  pride  in  him  increased.  The  full  story 
of  those  four  campaigns  given  in  all  their 
picturesque  details  would  make  a  volume. 
123 


THE  STOEY  OF 

No  event  of  its  kind  in  Kansas  ever  sur 
passed  in  intensity  of  interest  and  superheat 
ed  feelings  the  series  of  debates  between  these 
two  Kansans. 

Mr.  David  Leahey  reporting  these  con 
tests  said :  "Jerry's  fight  in  those  debates 
was  unorganized :  Chester's  fight  was  organ 
ized.  When  Mr.  Long  would  leave  the 
hall  he  would  go  to  his  room  and  lie  down 
and  with  loyal,  intelligent  friends  would 
pi"ck  flaws  in  Jerry's  arguments  in  hopes  of 
being  able  to  riddle  them  at  the  next  meet 
ing.  Jerry,  on  the  contrary,  after  leaving 
the  hall,  would  sit  down  on  a  curb  stone  and 
talk  to  the  crowd  of  Populist  admirers  as 
unconcernedly  as  if  he  had  nothing  to  do 
with  the  debates  that  had  everybody's  blood 
at  boiling  point.  He  depended  altogether 
upon  the  knowledge  he  had  been  picking  up 
during  a  life  time — knowledge  he  had  stored 
124 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

away  in  his  remarkable  memory — and  upon 
his  sharp  wit  and  barbed  and  pointed  sar 
casm.  He  was  a  master  in  the  art  of  illus 
trating  his  points  with  a  story,  an  art  in 
which  Mr.  Long  was  deficient." 

On  one  never  to  be  forgotten  occasion 
the  crowd  had  assembled  ahead  of  time  for 
the  debate  in  such  vast  numbers  that  not  only 
was  the  auditorium  densely  packed  but  all 
the  avenues  of  approach  to  the  building  were 
blocked  beyond  the  possibility  of  effecting 
an  entrance.  Mr.  Long  had  earlier  made  his 
way  inside,  but  Jerry  with  all  the  aid  of  the 
authorities  found  the  path  to  the  front  en 
trance  impenetrable.  High  up  in  the  rear 
of  the  building  was  a  small  window,  a  ladder 
was  brought,  Jerry  mounted  and  quickly  ap 
peared  at  the  small  aperture  facing  the 
amazed  and  waiting  inside  crowd.  His  face 
framed  as  if  in  a  picture  on  the  wall  took  on 
125 


THE  STOEY  OF 

his  classic  grin — the  effect  was  indescribable. 
Delirium  swept  the  crowd  as  Jerry  bodily 
effected  his  entrance  in  the  only  possible  way. 
Friend  and  foe  alike  enjoyed  the  spectacle, 
and  to  this  day  men  tell  and  laugh  with  gusto 
of  the  great  meeting  where  Jerry  got  there 
in  that  novel  fashion. 

About  this  time  it  came  to  be  widely 
noticed  that  Jerry  had  a  gift  so  unique  that 
men  often  pondered  on  its  source  and  qual 
ity.  Pie  could  without  apparent  effort  or 
purpose  of  effect  put  into  his  utterance  of  a 
single  word  a  fulness  of  characterization  that 
carried  a  whole  vocabulary  of  description — a 
whole  gamut  of  subtle  accusation.  Psychol 
ogy,  perchance,  could  penetrate  the  mystery 
of  this  power,  but  plain  observation  left  it 
as  unexplained  as  it  was  extraordinary. 

ISTow  Chester  I.  Long  possessed  unusual 
symmetry  of  feature  as  well  as  a  fine  bearing 
126 


TPIE  STOEY  OF 

and  physique.  In  one  hilarious  outburst 
Jerry  was  making  free  with  his  own  lack  of 
personal  graces.  Pausing  a  moment  he  said, 
"Now,  there  is — Chester."  Well,  he  put 
into  that  one  word  "Chester"  at  least  a  dozen 
insinuations — ranging  all  the  way  from  re 
prehensible  to  criminal.  You  felt  that  of 
all  arraignments  that  ever  curdled  your  emo 
tions  that  contained  in  the  word  "Chester" 
was  surely  one  you  would  best  like  to  dodge. 
And  the  more  it  penetrated  the  more  ludi 
crous  it  became.  It  was  intangible.  There 
was  nothing  to  deny — there  could  be  no  de 
fense.  But  there  lingered  an  uncanny  feel 
ing  that  the  lamentable  sin  and  shame  of 
"Chester"  was  his  good  looks. 

It  was  the  persuasive  personality  of  Jer 
ry  Simpson,  aside  from  the  subject  matter 
of  his  speeches,  that  produced  the  powerful 
effect  upon  his  audiences.     It  is  impossible 
127 


THE  STOKY  OF 

to  reproduce  in  story  or  to  retell  by  quotation 
of  his  very  words,  the  humor,  the  pathos  or 
the  prophecy  that  inhered  in  the  utterance  of 
this  remarkable  man. 

Governor  Hoch  said  of  him,  "On  the 
stump  he  was  almost  irresistible,  he  could 
come  nearer  to  making  what  many  of  us  be 
lieved  to  be  error  appear  to  be  truth  than  any 
one  in  recent  history." 

It  is  not  improbable  that  the  Scottish 
strain  in  Jerry  Simpson's  blood  gave  him  his 
occult  power.  Certain  it  is  that  there  was 
much  of  the  mystic  in  his  makeup. 

There  was  somewhat  in  his  life  known 
only  to  his  wife,  his  brother  James,  and  one 
or  two  most  intimate  early  friends.  Poor 
little  "Jane"  in  the  early  years  of  her  life 
with  Jerry  could  not  understand  why  there 
came  upon  her  husband,  hours  and 
sometimes  days  of  Silence — of  far- 
128 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

awayness — when  there  was  for  him 
no  reading,  few  words,  not  even  the 
eornigated  brow  of  thought,  but  only 
the  rapt  air  of  one  enthralled  by  a  great 
stillness.  These  seasons  of  silence  came  less 
frequently  in  his  later  years  but  there  grew 
within  him  more  and  more  of  the  Emerson 
ian  calmness  and  perfect  trust  in  the  benefi 
cent  universe.  The  desire  to  discuss  re 
ligious  creeds,  a  one  time  passion  with  lum, 
ceased.  The  peace  which  passeth  power,  or 
wish  to  be  put  into  words  came  to  him  in 
rich  plentitude. 

And  yet  this  story  to  be  rounded  out 
must  tell  of  the  militant,  the  virile  side  of  this 
very  human,  very  modern  "Sockless  So 
crates."  He  was  no  plaster  saint.  He 
could,  on  occasion,  fight — with  his  fists.  The 
hearty  work  he  could  do  in  that  line  would 
have  delighted  the  boxer-loving  Conan  Doyle. 
129 


THE  STORY  OF 

Mr.  Tom  McNeal  tells  this  story:  "Jer 
ry  was  possessed  of  a  great  deal  of  physical 
fts  well  as  moral  courage  and  during  his  ex 
periences  on  the  Great  Lakes  he  had  learned 
to  handle  himself  well.  On  one  occasion 
a  somewhat  heated  street  corner  discussion 
took  place  between  him  and  a  Medicine 
Lodge  blacksmith  by  the  name  of  Corson. 
Corson  claimed  that  Simpson  had  insulted 
him  and  that  he  intended  to  whip  him.  He 
found  Jerry  standing  in  the  corner  livery 
stable  with  his  overcoat  on  and  with  a  pre 
liminary  word  or  so  struck  the  future  Con 
gressman  in  the  face.  In  a  minute  Corson 
was  down  and  out,  a  badly  wrhipped  man. 
The  next  year  Corson  was  one  of  Jerry's 
most  devoted  and  enthusiastic  followers/' 

In  evidence  of  the  non  pious  language 
that  Jerry  sometimes  used,  Mr.  McNeal  tells 
of  at  one  time  expressing  his  surprise  at  some 
130 


JERKY  SIMPSON. 

of  Jerry's  views:  "Well,"  said  Jerry,  dry 
ly,  "I  presume  I  believe  a  damned  sight  of 
things  that  would  surprise  you." 


JERRY  IX  COXGEESS. 


XV. 

Jerry  in  Congress. 

You  are  a  visitor  at  Washington.  You 
enter  the  visitors  gallery  of  the  House  of 
Representatives.  The  guide  exclaims,  "You 
are  in  luck,  Jerry  Simpson,  of  Kansas,  has 
the  floor."  You  cannot  have  come  from  so 
remote  a  spot  in  all  the  land  that  you  have 
not  heard  of  Jerry.  You  may  not  know, 
though  the  guide  does,  that  the  House  is 
usually  a  babel.  You  can  count  on  the 
fingers  of  one  hand  the  Members  who  can 
command  attention. 

You  see  a  modeishly  clad  man,  just 
slightly  stooped  since  the  rollicking  days 
of  the  last  tournament  with  Prince  Hal. 
The  black  hair  shows  here  and  there  a  line 
of  gray.  He  is  not  gesticulating,  his  voice 
135 


THE  STORY  OF 

is  clear.  At  rare  intervals  there  is  a  mis- 
pronounciation  that  is  more  an  oddity  than 
an  error;  more  rarely  still  there  is  a  lapse 
in  grammar — you  barely  notice  these.  The 
quiet  sincerity,  the  entire  genuineness  of  the 
man,  hold  your  thought  above  trivalties.  If 
you  were  directly  facing  him  you  would  see 
that  the  strong,  thoughtful  face  is  sad  ar  if 
the  sorrows  of  helpless  humanity  called  to 
him  for  relief.  And  if  you  knew  him  well 
you  would  know  that,  just  as  the  great  sor 
rows  of  his  times  pressed  sorely  upon  the 
lender  heart  of  Abraham  Lincoln  even 
when  his  jests  and  jokes  were  readiest,  so 
too  is  Jerry  Simpson  ever  sore  of  heart  be- 
cause  of  his  great  pity  for  the  cruel  buffet 
ing  of  his  fellow  men.  True,  he  does  not 
make  his  abiding  sympathy  the  subject  of 
frequent  talk,  but  it  is  seldom  absent  from 
his  waking  hours.  And  if  you  knew  him 
136 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

\\ell  you  would  also  know  that  lie  is  as  fine 
of  fibre  as  he  is  fearless  of  speech.  He  re 
sponds  to  poetry  as  flowers  respond  to  sun 
light.  Just  now  he  is  speaking  to  the  ques 
tion  of  the  admission  of  Xew  Mexico  to  the 
Union.  He  has  tersely  stated  the  facts,  he 
has  made  a  fine  appeal  to  the  Democrats 
and  to  the  Republicans  of  the  House  to  put 
aside  party  considerations,  and  now  he  is 
passing  to  a  riot  infrequent  mood  of  raph- 
sody  and  swift  torrential  speech.  He  is  not 
magnetic — he  is  electric.  He  is  saying: 

"Ages  and  ages  ago  there  was  a  tropical 
climate  in  the  northern  regions  and  man, 
along  with  animals  that  only  live  and 
thrive  in  the  temperature  and  tropical  cli 
mate,  lived  and  inhabited  that  part  of  the 
earth.  But  there  came  a  change.  Suddenly 
down  from  the  northern  regions  came  the 
biting  blasts  of  Arctic  winter,  and  the  very 
air  was  frozen  into  ice.  Glaciers  formed 
137 


THE  STORY  OF 

and  moved  over  the  earth  to  the  south.  Be 
fore  this  irresistible  force  man  was  driven 
to  leave  his  home  and  haunts,  to  find  new 
opportunities  to  supply  his  wants.  From 
central  and  western  Europe,  Scotland, 
Scandanavia,  Switzerland  and  France  men 
were  driven  forth  to  seek  new  habitations. 
But  though  the  heat  of  the  sun  has  long 
since  melted  the  ice,  and  the  grass  is  green 
and  the  harvests  ripened  where  once  was 
nothing  but  eternal  winter,  there  is  yet  a 
powerful  force  that  is  ever  pushing  the  hu 
man  race  onward  to  find  new  and  unoccu 
pied  countries,  not,  however,  on  the  same 
lines,  but  along  the  temperate  zone  from 
east  to  west,  they  are  being  driven  by  an 
other  resistless  power. 

Since  prehistoric  times  populations 
have  moved  steadily  westward,  as  De- 
Tocqueville  said,  "as  if  driven  by  the  hand 
of  God."  It  was  customary  in  times  gone 
by  to  lay  all  the  blame  on  God  for  the  mis- 


138 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

fortune  of  man;  but  a  higher  civilization 
has  taught  us  that  nearly  all  the  ills  man 
suffers  are  attributable  to  his  own  ignor 
ance  of  the  laws  of  God. 

This  force,  that  makes  him,  like  the 
"Wandering  Jew,"  ever  to  be  condemned 
to  move  onward,  is  generated  by  himself.  It 
it  the  outgrowth  of  a  bad  system  of  land 
tenure,  which  allows  one  human  being  to 
hold  portions  of  the  earth  out  of  use  and 
deny  his  fellow-man  access  to  the  great 
storehouses  of  wealth. 

Land  monopoly,  that  has  resulted  in  the 
depriving  of  man  of  the  right  to  live  upon 
land,  has  had  the  effect  to  push  him  from 
one  end  of  the  globe  to  the  other,  and  in  his 
flight  he  has  been  pushed  forward  with  a 
steady  and  resistless  force,  even  as  the  gla 
ciers  pushed  him  from  north  to  south,  and 
his  course  has  been  marked  by  changes  upon 
the  earth's  surface  almost  as  great  as  that 
marked  by  the  course  of  the  mountains  of 

139 


THE  STOEY  OF 


ice. 


From  India,  Persia,  Greece,  Italy,  Ger 
many,  France,  Spain,  Great  Britain,  and 
then  to  the  great  West,  on  from  Plymouth 
Eock  and  Jamestown  to  the  Golden  Gate, 
like  the  star  in  the  east  which  guided  the 
three  kings  with  their  treasures  westward 
until  at  length  it  stood  still  over  the  cradle 
of  the  young  Christ  so  the  star  of  empire, 
rising  in  the  East,  has  ever  moved  onward, 
until  it  has  at  last  rested  over  what,  to  my 
mind,  is  the  treasure-house  of  the  world. 

Men  have  built  cities,  railroads,  canals, 
magnificient  palaces,  yet  they  find  themselves 
homeless  and  in  a  condition  to  perish,  amidst 
plenty  and  abundance.  They  starve  within 
the  shadow  of  the  storehouses  bursting  with 
plenty. 

The  open  road  to  safety,  lies  through 
immigration  to  those  new  Territories  where 
men  can  find  unoccupied  land,  and  let  us 
hope  that  thereon  will  be  built  the  happy 


140 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

homos  of  millions  of  people ;  and  let  us  also 
hope  that,  like  the  heat  of  the  light  of  the 
sun  that  melted  the  frozen  ice  in  the  glaciers, 
the  sunlight  of  reason  and  brotherly  love 
will  so  soften  and  civilize  man  that  he  will 
not  then  deprive  his  fellow-man  of  the  right 
to  live  upon  the  land.  The  earth  belongs  to 
the  children  of  men  and  should  be  held  for 
their  use." 

William  J.  Bryan,  who  was  cotompor- 
ary  in  Congress  with  Jerry  Simpson  said, 
"Mr.  Simpson  clarified  every  subject  he  dis 
cussed.  His  speeches  contained  a  delight 
ful  commingling  of  logic  and  humor." 

Champ  Clark,  also  a  colleague,  said, 
"He  was  one  of  the  best  rough  and  tumble 
debaters  with  whom  I  have  served  in  my 
thirteen  years  in  Congress.  His  wit,  humor, 
sarcasm  and  wide  knowledge  of  men  rend 
ered  him  a  master  in  that  difficult  field  of 

endeavor." 

141 


THE  STOKY  OF 

The  Chicago  Tribune  editorially  said, 
" Jerry  Simpson  was  perfectly  fearless,  he 
had  a  ready,  pungent  wit  and  a  gift  for 
repartee  which  made  him  one  of  the  most 
popular  speakers  and  one  of  the  most  feared 
debaters  in  the  House.  He  boldly  crossed 
swords  with  Tom  Reed  himself  who  did  not 
always  come  off  from  the  contests  with  a 
whole  skin." 

The  House  greatly  enjoyed  the  bits  of 
comment  which  Jerry  could  no  more  resist 
interjecting  into  the  turgid  speeches  of  most 
of  the  Members,  than  a  frolicsome  boy  could 
resist  flipping  a  pebble  into  a  stagnant  pool 
to  make  it  ripple. 

Jerry  was  a  free  trader,  and  never  let 
a  chance  slip  by  to  puncture  the  tariff. 

A  Member,  arguing  ponderously  for  the 
deepening  of  harbors,  was  solemnly  asked  by 
Jerry,  "why  money  should  be  spent  on  har- 
142 


JEEEY  SIMPSON. 

bors  to  promote  foreign  trade,  and  a  tariff 
wall  be  built  to  obstruct  the  foreign  trade? 
Why  not  let  the  foreigner  flounder  in  the 
harbor  ?" 

On  one  memorable  occasion,  Mr.  Ding- 
ley  was  making  an  exhaustive  and  sentiment 
al  talk  on  the  tariff  as  a  protector  of  Ameri 
can  labor.  Acting  on  the  hint  of  a  Republi 
can  Member  who  enjoyed  a  joke,  Jerry 
strolled  up  the  aisle  and  glanced  into  Mr. 
Dingley's  silk  hat  that  was  deposited  upon 
one  of  the  House  desks,  it  bore  a  London 
Trade  Mark.  Jerry  with  boyish  candor 
asked  leave  to  question  Mr.  Dingley.  He 
consented  and  Jerry  asked:  "Why,  if  it  be 
a  matter  of  morals  to  encourage  the  home 
manufacturer,  do  you  buy  your  fine  silk 
hats  from  England?"  Mr.  Dingley  floun 
dered  and  the  Members  roared  while  he  ex 
plained  that  his  hat  was  really  made  in  the 
143 


THE  STORY  OF 

United  States,  but  that  the  London  Trade 
Mark  had  been  used  to  make  it  sell.  Where 
at  Jerry  said,  "Oh,  sir,  is  it  moral  to  encour 
age  such  deceitful  men  by  buying  our  hats 
of  them."  The  House  was  convulsed  with 
laughter,  and  it  was  a  long  time  before  Mr. 
Dingley  forgave  Jerry — but  he  did — later. 
No  one  could  hold  out  against  the  Kansan's 
good  nature. 

On  another  uproarously  funny  occasion, 
Jerry  was  making  merry  with  the  tariff. 
]STo  black  and  white  telling  of  the  story  can 
give  the  faintest  hint  of  the  drollery  of  man 
ner  and  the  bits  of  talk  accompanying  the 
performance :  Jerry  had  bought  a  coat  from 
a  market  gardener  which  he  proceeded  to  tear 
to  pieces  with  such  lack  of  effort  that  'twould 
seem  as  if  the  cloth  just  fell  appart  dis 
heartened  and  shamed  by  the  exposure  of  its 
shoddy  quality :  This  was  done  to  show  that 
144 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

shoddy  had  taken  the  place  of  wool  in  the 
manufacture  of  clothes  for  the  poor,  protect 
ed  laborer. 

One  day,  Mr.  Payne  of  New  York,  who 
had  been  driven  close  by  one  of  Jerry's 
pointed  questions  said,  "If  I  were  inclined 
to  be  rude,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  would  answer  the 
foolish  query  of  the  gentleman  from  Kansas, 
by  asking  him  if  his  ancestors  were  mon 
keys." 

"In  which  event,"  said  Jerry,  calmly 
looking  at  Mr.  Payne,  "I  should  reply  as  did 
the  elder  Dumas,  when  a  French  fool  asked 
him  the  same  question.  I  should  say  to  the 
gentleman,  Yes,  your  family  ends  where 
mine  began." 

Jerry   once   went   to   the   Speaker,   Mr. 

Reed,   and  urged   the   passage  of  a   private 

pension   bill   which   had   come   in   from   the 

Committee  with  an  unfavorable  report.  "The 

145 


THE  STORY  OF 

bill  affects  the  fortunes  of  a  poor  old  widow 
down  in  Kansas/'  said  Jerry.  "But,  why,' 
said  Speaker  Reed,  "do  you  press  this  bill 
when  you've  been  opposing  pension  bills  un 
favorably  reported."  "There  are  thirty  reas 
ons  why  I  support  this  bill,"  said  Jerry,  "the 
first  one  is  that  the  woman  needs  the  money, 
— the  other  twenty-nine  I  have  forgotten.'* 
Speaker  Reed  recognized  Jerry  and  the  bill 
passed. 

W.  D.  Vincent,  a  populist  Representa 
tive  from  Kansas,  tells  this  story  of  his  col 
league  : 

"Jerry  was  attempting  to  make  a  speech 
on  the  Dingley  tariff  bill.  The  Chairman 
had  tried  to  rap  him  down  with  his  gavel, 
but  Jerry  would  not  yield  the  floor.  The 
chairman  ordered  the  sargeant  at-arms  to  ar 
rest  him.  The  arrest  of  a  Member  of  Con 
gress  is  a  very  novel  procedure.  There  are 
146 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

EO  papers  served  and  no  words  uttered.  The 
sargeant-at-arms  simply  marches  up  in  front 
of  the  Member  holding  the  mace  in  front  of 
him.  The  mace  is  a  symbol  of  authority. 
The  one  used  by  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  is  a  large  bronze  in  the  form  of  a  brass 
eagle,  mounted  on  a  staff.  When  this  is 
held  in  front  of  a  Member  by  the  proper 
officer  he  is  under  arrest.  Following  the  in 
structions  of  the  chairman,  the  sergeant-at- 
arms  walked  up  to  Jerry  with  his  eagle.  By 
this  time  the  excitement  was  intense,  but 
Jerry  continued  his  speech,  only  stopping 
long  enough  to  say  to  the  officer,  with  a  care 
less  wave  of  the  hand:  "Oh,  take  that  buz 
zard  away  from  here." 

"There  was  a  deathlike  stillness  over  the 

House.     The  chairman  looked  dumfounded, 

while  the  face  of  the  sergeant-at-arms  turned 

fourteen  different  colors  as  he  gazed  about 

147 


THE  STORY  OF 

the  hall  with  a  sort  of  vacant  stare  as  if  try 
ing  to  decide  whether  it  was  a  dream  or  the 
real  thing.  For  a  moment  everybody  seemed 
embarrassed  but  Simpson,  who  alone  seemed 
to  appreciate  the  Indricous  situation,  and, 
standing  there  with  a  smile  on  his  face  said 
to  the  officer :  "Well,  what  are  you  going  to 
do  about  it  ?"  All  at  once  the  suspense  was 
broken  by  a  peal  of  laughter  from  the  Mem 
bers  that  almost  shook  the  capitol  building. 
It  had  suddenly  dawned  on  them  that  we 
were  in  a  committee  of  the  whole  and  there 
was  no  rule  under  which  a  Member  could  be 
arrested  in  the  committee.  The  sergeant-at- 
arms  marched  meekly  and  submissively  back 
to  his  room  and  Jerry  continued  his  speech 
until  the  Speaker  rushed  into  the  hall  and 
with  a  rap  of  his  gavel  declared  the  House 
in  session.  In  the  meantime  Jerry  had  said 
all  he  wanted  to  say  and  was  ready  to  sub- 
148 


JERKY  SIMPSON. 

side." 

No  subject  of  importance  came  before 
Congress  while  Jerry  was  a  Member  upon 
which  he  failed  to  speak.  The  principles 
and  purposes  of  the  Peoples  Party  were  ex 
pounded  over  and  over  again.  His  experi 
ence  and  practical  knowledge  as  well  as  his 
reading  and  reflection  equipped  him  for  most 
effective  presentation  and  solid  argument. 

Tom  L.  Johnson  and  Jerry  were  warm 
friends  as  well  as  co-disciples  of  Henry 
George.  They  connived  to  spread  the  gospel 
of  Single  Tax  upon  the  pages  of  the  Congres 
sional  Record.  They  portioned  out  the  en 
tire  contents  of  "Progress  and  Poverty" 
among  the  Single  Tax  Members  to  be  used 
in  quotation  in  their  several  speeches.  The 
scheme  was  entirely  legitimate  and  thus  un 
numbered  readers  were  presented  with  that 
great  work,  and  the  archives  of  the  nation 
149 


THE  STOEY  OF 

carry  it  as  a  public  document. 

One  of  the  keenest  writers  on  the  staff 
of  a  great  eastern  daily  said,  "There  was  not 
a  question  of  Congressional  action  during 
Jerry  Simpson's  stay  in  Congress  on  which 
he  did  not  think,  and  his  speeches  threw  new 
light  on  every  subject  under  discussion.  The 
legislative  accomplishments  of  Simpson  con 
sisted,  during  the  six  years  in  the  House,  in 
turning  eastern  sentiment  regarding  Popul 
ism  from  scornful  ridicule  to  respectful  con 
sideration." 

So,  if  it  be  asked  in  skepticism,  why 
write  up  the  "Sockless  Socrates"  as  a  states 
man  when  no  large  legislation  stands  to  his 
credit,  let  the  answer  be  this :  Laws  are  the 
creation  of  majorities  in  legislative  bodies. 
No  one  man,  nor  yet  a  little  band  of  such  as 
were  Jerry's  political  compatriots  may  do  the 
impossible.  Politicians  follow  public  senti- 
150 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

ment;  statesmen  create  it.  Far  greater — 
far  more  enduring  than  mere  acts  of  legisla 
tion  is  the  work  of  creating  public  sentiment, 
of  informing  and  enlightening  the  popular 
mind.  The  shedding  of  light  on  unfamiliar 
and  higher  paths  than  those  hard  trodden  by 
dull  conservatism  and  tragic  ignorance — 
these  great  things  Jerry  did,  and  when  the 
years  of  fine  fruition  come,  as  come  they  will, 
let  men  who  can  grasp  fine  meanings,  high 
purpose  and  real  achievment  say,  Jerry 
Simpson's  name  belongs  not  with  the  poli 
ticians'  but  with  the  statesman's  class. 


151 


POPULISM  ENKOUTE. 
A.  D.  1908. 


XVI. 

* Populism  Enroute. 
A.  D.  1908. 

The  full  story  of  civilization  is  not  to 
be  told  by  the  mere  data  and  description  of 
events.  Analysis  of  the  quickening,  throb 
bing,  pulsing  ideas  of  the  day  or  age  must 
go  into  the  rounded  history. 

Great  sentient  waves  of  thought  flow 
through  humanity  and  gradually  make  vast 
changes  in  the  manners,  the  morals,  the  art, 
the  science,  the  trade,  the  vocations  and  the 
structural  habitations  of  mankind. 

Xo  on-sweeping  march  of  armored  hosts, 
with  all  their  hoarse  shoutings,  their  blare 
and  blazonry  and  their  thundrous  tread,  ever 

*The  official  name  of  the  Peoples  Party  was  never 
changed,  but  through  popular  usage  it  came  to  be 
called  the  Populist  Party. 

155 


THE  STOKY  OF 

wrought  upon  God's  footstool,  changes  that 
could  compare  with  those  wrought  by  the 
subtle,  percolating,  permeating  power  of 
ideas. 

Against  the  objective  existence  of  the 
Peoples  Party,  the  machinations  of  adroit, 
expert,  and  long  entrenched  old-partyism  pre 
vailed.  But  not  all  the  cunning  ways  of 
high-handed  and  commercial  politics  playing 
upon  the  unawakened,  the  uninformed  and 
the  unalarmed  hosts  of  American  voters  could 
barricade  against  the  on-sweep  of  Populist 
ideas.  So  here  are  we  today  in  the  early 
years  of  the  good  twentieth  century  witness 
ing  the  vindication,  and  enroute  to  the  full 
fruition,  of  the  Populism  of  1890. 

The  fundamental  doctrine  of  Populism, 

was  public  ownership  and  public  conduct  of 

public  utilities.     Behold  now  the  vast  extent 

of  popular  acceptance  of  that  theory.     Be- 

156 


JERKY  SIMPSON. 

hold  the  tortuous  clutchings  of  private  owner 
ship  seeking  to  avert  its  certain  doom. 

Decades  hence  some  museum  of  things 
archaic  will  hold  a  street  car,  with  aisles  and 
platforms  densely  packed  with  weary  men 
and  women.  Then  some  student  lad  will 
say,  "Daddy,  why  did  they  crowd  so  ?"  And 
daddy  will  reply,  "Well,  son,  once  upon  a 
time,  private  parties  owned  the  street  cars 
and  furnished  straps,  instead  of  seats,  for 
passengers." 

In  1890,  Henry  D.  Lloyd,  gave  in 
"Wealth  Against  the  Commonwealth"  the 
story  of  Standard  Oil  rapacity.  Populism 
called  that  huge  trust  an  "Octopus."  Turn 
on  the  phonograph  of  memory  and  listen  to 
the  shouts  of  derision  over  Populist  use  of 
that  word  "octopus."  Listen  also  to  the  elo 
quent  defense  of  "Standard  Oil,"— rebates 

and  all. 

157 


THE  STORY  OF 

A  few  years  later  and  public  sentiment 
honeycombed  by  Populist  ideas  was  ripened 
to  the  point  of  safe  venture  for  a  popular 
periodical  to  publish  Ida  Tarbell's  story  of 
Standard  Oil  and  its  black  deeds. 

Read,  years  later,  in  the  Kansas  City 
Star,  arraignment  of  Standard  Oil  under  the 
bold  caption:  "THE  REAL  OCTOPUS." 

So  short  a  time  within  a  nation's  life 
and  such  fine  progress  toward  fuller  light ! 

Jerry  Simpson,  in  a  speech  at  Wichita 
in  1890,  discussing  the  transportation  ques 
tion,  urged  the  apointment  of  a  national  com 
mission  to  ascertain  the  actual  value  of  rail 
roads  in  order  to  obtain  a  basis  upon  which 
to  determine  just  and  reasonable  rates  of 
transportation.  Republicans  bubbled  with 
glee:  "What!  that  ignoramus,  that  whittler 
of  dry  goods  boxes,  that  spouting  demagogue, 
tendering  his  advice  anent  the  great  railways 
158 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

that  have  upbuilt  the  great  West !" 

But  years  later  along  came  President 
Roosevelt  and  Senator  La  Follette,  echoing 
that  same  piece  of  sound  advice. 

Standing  on  the  steps  of  the  State 
House,  at  Topeka,  Kansas,  and  pointing  to 
the  Santa  Fe  railway  offices  opposite,  Jerry 
Simpson  said:  "Over  there  is  now  the  seat 
of  government;  the  mission  of  the  People's 
Party  is  to  move  it  over  here."  That  was 
"demagoguery,  pure  and  simple"  when  Jerry 
Simpson  said  it.  But  a  few  years  later,  the 
Kansas  City  Star,  the  most  influential  daily 
in  the  great  West,  said  as  much,  and  more, 
time  and  time  again,  and  had  great  popular 
acclaim. 

Again  the  Kansas  City  Star:  "There  is 

no  more  corrupting  influence  in  the  nation 

than  the  corporation  campaign  contributions 

and  the   organized  corporation  lobby.     The 

159 


THE  STORY  OF 

people  are  in  no  mood  to  bear  longer  with 
the  railroad  politician  and  the  railroad 
lobbyist/' 

As  a  matter  of  history,  Populism  was 
ready  to  dispense  with  these  corrupting  in 
fluences  a  decade  and  a  half  ago. 

Not  reproduced  from  a  Populist  paper 
of  the  early  Nineties,  but  from  a  recent  issue 
of  the  Kansas  City  Star  is  this: 

"AN  AMAZING  STYLE  OF  BOBBEBY. 

"If  any  man  of  your  acquaintance  were 
to  cause  liis  hands  io  be  tied  behind  his  lack 
and  then  invite  theives  and  robbers  to  go 
through  his  pockets  you  would  have  no  hesi 
tancy  in  consigning  him,  in  your  mind  at 
least,  to  a  hospital  for  the  insane.  And  there 
is  little  doubt  but  that  his  case  would  speedily 
engage  the  attention  of  a  commission  to  take 
action  on  his  mental  condition. 
160 


JEKRY  SIMPSOK 

"This  illustration  exemplifies  the  differ 
ence  between  individuals  and  the  great,  cor 
poration    which    we    call    the    government. 
Time  and  again  through  the  action  of  Con 
gress  are  the  hands  of  Uncle  Sam  tied  behind 
him  and  his  person  exposed  to  open  plunder. 
This   is    exactly   what   happened   yesterday 
when  Congressman  Murdoch's  plan  to  save 
five  million  dollars  by  an  honest  method  of 
weighing  the  mails  was  defeated.     The  rail 
roads  were  literally  invited  by  the  law-mak 
ing  power,  to  step  in  and  rob  the  nation  of 
that  amount  of  money.     They  were  not  even 
put  to  the  trouble  of  way-laying  the  victim. 
He  was  bound  and  turned  over  to  them  by  his 
so-called  Representatives  and  guardians. 

"The  very  same  things  happen  every 
time  the  government  makes  a  contract  for 
building  material,  for  munitions  for  defense, 


161 


THE  STORY  OF 

for  food  and  other  supplies  for  its  soldiers, 
or  for  whatever  it  buys. 

"Was  there  ever  before  such  an  amazing 
system  of  robbery  in  a  country  calling  itself 
free,  and  can  the  equal  of  it  be  found  any 
where  else  in  the  world  today,  even  among 
the  despotisms?" 

Twenty  years  ago  Jerry  Simpson  advo 
cated  Federal  control  of  Insurance.  In 
Kansas,  Webb  McNall,  Populist  Superinten 
dent  of  Insurance,  took  liberties  with  aTlie 
System/7  that  well  nigh  called  for  the  lamp 
post  and  boiling  oil.  Ten  years  later, 
Charles  Barnes,  Republican  Superintendent 
of  Insurance,  is  applauded  for  bravely  fol 
lowing  in  the  pathway  of  his  Populist  prede 
cessor. 

So  merrily  runs  the  world  away. 

The    "crack-brained    Populists,"    plead 
for  the  holding  of  rich  coal  lands  away  from 
162 


JERKF  SIMPSON. 

the  railways ;  Republican  Senator  LaFollette 
will  help  to  carry  out  this  crack-brained  will 
and  testament. 

The  Populists  talked  day  and  night 
about  a  "national  system  of  Irrigation,"  pub 
lic  enlightenment  along  this  line  carried  the 
day  in  legislation. 

Likewise,  the  safe-guarding  of  public 
lands;  the  preservations  of  forests  and  the 
limitations  of  land  holdings,  were  frequently 
the  subject  of  Populist  speech. 

Mr.  Garfield,  Secretary  of  the  Interior, 
has  recently  announced  his  intention  of  en 
forcing  the  limitation  to  holdings  of  oil 
lands. 

True,  the  fulfilment  along  these  lines 
lags  as  yet :  "  'Tis  not  so  deep  as  a  well,  nor 
so  wide  as  a  church  door ;  but  'tis  enough, 
'twill  serve,"  pending  the  time  when  the  vot 
ers  cast  their  ballots  for  their  beliefs  instead 
163 


THE  STOKY  OF 

of  for  their  party  programs. 

A  demand  for  Postal  Savings  Banks 
went  into  Populists  platforms  and  Populist 
argument. 

The  Initiative  and  Referendum,  now 
the  organic  law  of  four  western  common 
wealths,  stands  to  the  credit  of  Populist 
literature  and  Populist  iteration  on  the  ros 
trum. 

For  answer  to  Populist  arguments  on 
the  money  question  there  came  these  sneers 
from  press  and  platform:  "What  do  you 
know  ahout  'feenance,'  'per  capiter'  or  other 
sacred  mysteries  of  the  best  financial  system 
the  world  has  ever  seen  ?" 

"Get  between  plow  handles/'  said  Gov 
ernor  Anthony,  "you  old  hayseeds,  and  send 
your  plow  shires  deeper — there's  your  reme- 
dy." 

"You  can't  legislate  proper ity  into  ex- 
164 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

istence,"  said  Senator  Ingalls,  "any  more 
than  you  can  make  rain  fall  by  legislation." 

Populism  argued  that  the  producers  of 
the  bread  of  the  whole  nation  ought  to  have, 
in  time  of  stress,  as  fair  a  chance  in  a  money 
\vay  as  the  Wall  street  bankers. 

Whereat  arose  a  shrieking  chorus :  "Ask 
ing  for  a  Sub-Treasury,  are  you  ?  want  to  get 
negotiable  certificates  based  on  no  better  se 
curity  than  wheat  and  corn  and  cotton  ?  Ha ! 
Ha!!  Ha!!! 

The  old  time  merry-makers  at  Populist 
expense  were  boisterously  funny  over  the 
"per  capiter  idiots."  Populism  said  there 
was  not  enough  money  in  circulation  to  trans 
act  business,  hence  hard  times  and  business 
stagnation. 

Fifteen  years  later,  Governor  Hoch, 
speaking  at  Washington,  said,  "Kansas  is 
doing  famously.  A  state  that  has  a  hundred 
165 


THE  STOEY  OF 

dollars  per  capita  has  a  little  right  to  boast, 
for  I  think,  that  is  more  than  any  of  its  sis 
ter  commonwealths  can  boast.  In  the  Popu 
list  days  of  Jerry  Simpson  his  followers  did 
not  demand  more  than  half  that  much." 

As  to  corn  and  wheat  and  cotton  merit 
ing  subtreasury  conveniences,  is  it  not  the 
proud  boast  of  today  that  these  great  sub 
stantial  sources  of  real  wealth  are  the  best 
assets  of  the  nation  ? 

Wall  Street  borrows  of  the  West,  and 
begs  of  Secretary  Cortelyou — a  little  sixty 
millions  or  so,  whenever  a  breath  or  a  rumor 
disturbs  its  delicate  constitution.  Wall 
Street  gets  the  cash,  of  course, — Populism  is 
only  enroute. 

The  scandalous  insecurity  of  a  privately 
owned  monetary  system  and  its  utter  inabil 
ity  to  serve  the  business  and  the  industry  of 
the  country  are  being  daily  demonstrated. 
166 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

The  spectacle  afforded  by  this  financial 
Thing  of  legislative  shreds  and  patches,  with 
its  dark  corners,  its  suicides,  its  paralysis  of 
business  and  its  widespread  distress,  holding 
out  its  silly  hands  to  clutch  the  morsel  of  gold 
;<-sailing  over  from  France  and  England  to 
be  used  as  a  base  to  steady  its  doddering  old 
existence  is  at  once  a  comedy  and  an  insult 
to  American  intelligence. 

Private  banking  is  found  wanting: 
government  banks,  with  issue  secured  by  the 
Patriotism  and  the  boundless  wealth  of  this 
great  Republic  will  aid  in  making  prosperity 
a  permanence. 

The  full  contention  of  Populism  as  to 
money  is  on  the  highway  to  fulfillment. 

At  the  date  of  this  writing  there  is  a 
wave  of  "reform"  engaged  in  sweeping  dis 
honest  officials  from  places  of  public  and 
semi-public  trust.  The  shallow  minded  are 
167 


THE  STORY  OF 

aflame  with  zeal,  believing  that  to  turn  out 
present  rascals  will  insure-  against  future 
rascality.  New  York  City  is  as  sura  of 
future  purity,  if  it  can  get  its  "  Traction 
thieves"  and  its  "Insurance  thieves'7  ex 
patriated  or  imprisoned  as  it  once  was  of 
purity  for  all  time  to  come  when  it  expatri 
ated  and  imprisoned  Boss  Tweed  and  his 
kind. 

Popular  enthusiasm  over  the  conviction 
of  dishonest  officials  from  Atlantic  to  Pacific 
coasts  is  just  now  quite  as  jaunty  and  as 
trustful  of  the  future,  as  it  was  in  divers 
times  agone,  when  Indian  Rings,  Whisky 
Rings,  Star  Routers,  and  Credit  Mobilers 
were  brought  to  justice. 

The  purblind  majority  thus  far  fails  to 

grasp  the  great  fact  that  human  nature,  in 

essence,  is  unchangeable:     given  conditions 

that  breed  and  foster  greed  and  lust  of  power, 

168 


JERRF  SIMPSON. 

and  sure  as  night  time  follows  day,  so  sure 
will  public  graft  and  personal  demoralization 
follow  on. 

Abraham  Lincoln  saw  that  the  Repub 
lic  could  not  endure  half  slave  and  half  free : 
Populism  saw  that  the  Republic  could  not 
save  its  honor  and  its  private  morals  with 
the  great  business  of  public  service  admin 
istered  half  in  the  interest  of  private  posses 
sion  and  half  in  the  interest  of  the  public 
welfare.  The  inevitable  clash  of  interests 
begets  a  contest  wherein  guile  and  venality 
are  spawned. 

Hence  all  this  putting  honest  men  in 
office,  this  appointing  of  commissions  to  in 
spect  and  to  supervise,  yields  but  scant  and 
temporary  relief.  It  does  not  touch  the  root 
of  the  real  remedy.  Indeed,  the  animating 
spirit  of  the  present  rigorous  reform  is  well 


169 


THE  STORY  OF 

voiced  in  President  Roosevelt's  utterance  of 
August  1899 : 

"During  the  last  few  months  I  have 
been  growing  exceedingly  alarmed  at  the 
growth  of  popular  unrest  and  popular  dis 
trust  on  the  Trust  question.  It  is  largely 
aimless  and  baseless,  but  there  is  a  very  un 
pleasant  side  to  this  over-run  Trust  devel 
opment  and  what  1  fear  is,  if  we  do  not  have 
some  consistent  policy  to  advocate,  that  the 
multitudes  will  follow  the  crank  who  advo 
cates  an  absurd  policy,  but  who  does  advocate 
something/' 

There  is  open  confession,  spread  upon 
the  pages  of  the  daily  press,  that  the  only 
way  to  head  off  the  public  ownership  of  rail 
ways,  is  for  the  corporations  to  acquiesce  in 
the  popular  demands  for  strict  surveilance 
and  for  quasi  public  management.  Thus, 
political  conservatism,  failing  to  comprehend 
170 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

Twentieth  Century  democracy,  distrutful  of 
the  people,  yet  pallid  with  fear  of  them,  will 
grudgingly  dole  out  legislative  makeshifts 
and  half  way  reforms. 

Meanwhile,  Populism,  enroute,  is  placid 
and  patient.  Its  truths  have  been  uttered. 
Its  ideas  are  marching  on  and  it  is  a  fore 
gone  conclusion  that  the  future  failure  of  all 
the  patchwork,  cumbersome,  jumbled  legis 
lation  now  under  way,  will  serve  to  accelerate 
the  evolution  of  an  expert  public  service  un 
hampered  by  ignorant,  impertinent  surveil- 
ance,  or  untainted  by  corruption  and  private 

profit. 

More  than  one  milliom  votes  were  cast 
in  1892  for  James  B.  Weaver,  the  Populist 
candidate  for  President. 

In  1896  the  Populist  Party  became  the 
ally  of  the  Democratic  Party  and  more  than 
six  and  one  half  million  votes  were  cast  for 
171 


THE  STOKY  OF 

Mr.   Bryan.     Thus  the  literature  of  Popu 
lism  was  carried  to  an  enormous  number  of 
friendly     readers     throughout     the     nation. 
Moreover,   during  all  those  years,   hosts  of 
Republicans  listened  to  Populism  on  the  ros 
trum  and  read  its  literature.     They  were  in 
tent  upon  the  refutation  of  the  arguments  of 
their  opponents— they  came  to  scoff  but  re 
mained  to  pray.     And  the  burden  of  their 
prayer  was  to  be  shown  how  to  avert  defeat 
by  the  assimilation  of  as  much  of  Populist 
truth    as    had   grown   to    acceptance   in   the 
popular  mind— and  to  labor  for  progress  and 
the  nation's  welfare  within  the  Republican 
Party. 

This  amende  honerable  comes  from 
William  Allen  White: 

"Ten  years  ago,  this  great  organ  of  re 
form,  wrote  a  piece  entitled  'What's  the  Mat 
ter  With  Kansas?'  In  it  great  sport  was 
172 


JERKY  SIMPSON. 

made  of  a  perfectly  honest  gentleman  of  un 
usual  legal  ability  who  happened  to  be  run 
ning  for  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  this  State,  because  he  said,  in  effect,  that 
'the  rights  of  the  user  are  paramount  to  the 
rights  of  the  owner/     Those  were  paleozoic 
times;  how  far  the  world  has   moved   since 
then.     If   the    Gazette   had  not   guyed   the 
Populist  candidate  for  Chief  Justice  for  tell 
ing  the  truth,  ttie  Gazette   would  have   been 
printed  in  a   little   20^60   office  on  Sixth 
Avenue,  about  two  jumps  ahead  of  the  sher 
iff.     The  Gazette  was  wrong  in  those  days 
and  Judge  Doster  was  right.     But  he  was 
out  too  early  in  the  season  and  his  views  got 
frost  bitten.     This  is  a  funny  world.     About 
all  we  can  do  is  to  move  with  it." 

Fine  1    With  but  one  little  error ;  Popu 
list  ideas  were  not  out  too  early,  nor  were 


173 


THE  STOEY  OF 

they  frost  bitten,  they  are  climbing  riotously, 
like  Jack's  bean  stalk. 

Says  Governor  Hoch,  in  the  New  York 
Tribune:  ffl  do  not  believe  that  there  are 
anywhere  on  earth  sixteen  hundred  thousand 
people  maintaining  a  higher  standard  of 
morals  than  the  sixteen  hundred  thousand 
who  constitute  the  population  of  Kansas." 

Well,  why  not,  why  not,  wasn't  the 
Peoples  Party  born  in  Kansas  ? 


174 


A  SYMPOSIUM. 


XVII. 

A  Symposium. 

Tom  L.  Johnson:  "I  loved  Jerry 
Simpson.  In  all  the  time  of  my  acquaint 
ance  I  never  saw  him  fail,  either  in  judg 
ment,  in  courage,  or  in  discretion." 

Tom  Reed:  "I  learned  to  love  him 
well.  I  never  knew  him  to  lose  his  head  or 
his  feet." 

Senator  Long:  "We  were  opposing 
candidates,  but  personal  friends." 

Dennis  Flynn:  "We  were  neighbors 
in  Kansas  and  at  Washington.  His  col 
leagues  in  Congress  respected  him  and  ad 
mired  his  ready  wit.  The  benches  and  the 
galleries  were  never  empty  when  it  was 
known  that  Jerry  Simpson  would  speak." 
177 


THE  STOKY  OF 

Tom  McNeal:  "I  was  intimately  ac 
quainted  with  Jerry  Simpson.  We  differed 
in  politics,  but  I  respected  him  for  his  per 
sonal  integrity." 

William  J.  Bryan  :  "  Jerry's  speeches  in 
Congress  contained  a  delightful  comming 
ling  of  logic  and  humor,  and  his  hearty  good 
humor  made  him  popular  on  both  sides  of  the 
House." 

Governor  Hoch :  " Jerry  Simpson  com 
manded  the  respect  of  friend  and  foe  alike. 
He  often  experienced,  as  well  as  exemplified, 
Garfield's  beautiful  sentiment  that,  the 
sweetest  flowers  that  bud  and  blossom  in  this 
world,  clamber  over  the  wall  of  party  poli 
tics." 

Hon.  W.  D.  Vincent :  "I  was  his  close 
friend  and  neighbor.  Day  by  day,  and  all 
the  time,  he  was  the  same  genial,  kindly  and 
humorous  Jerry." 

178 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

Louis  F.  Post:  "Jerry  Simpson  was 
open,  strong,  unflinching  and  as  thoughtful, 
prudent  and  rational  as  he  was  frank  and 
courageous.  He  was  a  democratic  nobleman 
who  never  forgot  a  friend  or  failed  to  forgive 
an  enemy.  I  felt  it  an  honor  to  be  able  to 
number  him  among  my  closest  and  most 
cherished  friends.". 

Hon.  Champ  Chrk:  "I  shall  always 
cherish  the  memory  of  Jerry  Simpson.  He 
was  genial,  kind,  bright  and  faithful.  I  val 
ued  him  highly  as  my  friend." 

Hamlin  Garland:  "I  saw  much  of  him 
in  Washington.  I  came  to  like  the  'Sock- 
less  Sage'  because  of  the  quaint  charm  of  his 
manner,  his  kindliness,  his  humor,  his  quick 
wit  and  the  sincerty  of  his  convictions." 

C.  W.  DeFreest:  "I  was  associated 
with  him  in  business  in  New  Mexico.  He 
was  one  of  the  most  companionable  men  I 
179 


THE  STOKY  OF 

ever  met.  I  know  of  no  man  dearer  to  his 
friends  or  more  beloved,  than  Jerry  Simp 
son." 

Henry  George,  Jr.:     "I    have    always 
believed  that  Jerry  Simpson  was  the  best  ex 
ample  of  the  Abraham  Lincoln  type  of  man 
1  had  ever  met.     Bugged,  strong,  with  a  keen 
perception  of  fundamental  principles,  he  had 
an  abiding  faith  in  the  American  standards 
as  expressive  of  the  idea  of  democratic  rule. 
And   he   had   that   largeness   of   spirit   that 
showed  itself  so  eminently  in  Lincoln— the 
power  of  which  was  expressed  in  a  humor 
that  carried  its  will  while  dulling  the  edge 
of  opposition.     His  broadness  of  mind  and 
greatness  of  heart  represented  the  best  that  is 
in  our  American  life,  and  when  this  Ameri 
can  sailor  and  farmer  took  the  floor  in  debate 
in  the  House  of  Eepresentatives  at  Washing 
ton,   the  old  and  the  young,   the  wise,  the 
180 


JEKKY  SIMPSON. 

supercilious  and  the  cunning  all  listened;  for 
in  Jerry  Simpson  spoke  sturdy  manhood, 
clear  sense,  broad,  generous  feeling,  undaunt- 
able  courage,  a  natural,  picturesque  oratory, 
and  a  healthy  humor  that  could  laugh  down 
the  most  formidable  opposition. 

"I  respected  and  loved  him  as  a  friend ; 
and  as  a  press  correspondent  at  Washington 
when  he  was  a  Member  of  Congress,  I  re 
garded  him  as  among  the  ablest  men  in  pub 
lic  life  at  that  time— an  estimate  which  now, 
years  later,  I  most  heartily  confirm." 

Judge  Frank  Doster:  "Jerry  Simpson 
was  a  man  whom  not  only  Kansas,  but  the 
Nation,  will  remember  to  love." 


181 


LESTER  SIMPSON 


GERLIE  SIMPSON 


THE   BABES  IN  THE  WOODS. 


XVIII. 

The  Bales  in  the  Woods. 

Jerry  and  Jane  are  at  home  again  in 
Barber  County. 

The  last  contest  between  " Chester"  and 
Jerry  has  been  fought — and  won  by  Mr. 
Long.  Chester  I.  Long  will  go  to  Congress, 
Jerry  Simpson  will  never  more  be  in  official 
place.  A  century  of  new  thought  has  flowed 
into  the  last  decade.  "It  does  not  matter 
so  much,"  says  Emerson,  "how  far  a  man  has 
got,  as  which  way  he  is  facing."  As  with  a 
man  so  with  the  world  at  large. 

One  Sunday  morning  Jerry  is  stretched 
at  length  on  the  lounge  in  their  cosy  farm 
house  living  room.  He  is  holding  a  news- 
185 


THE  STOKY  OF 

paper  before  his  face  to  hide  the  mischievous 
twinkle  in  his  eyes  from  the  observation  of 
his  son  Lester. 

Lester's  face  is  anything  but  placid. 
For  the  first  time  in  his  life  he  finds  it  hard 
to  broach  a  matter  to  his  father. 

Lester  fidgets,  casts  anxious  glances  to 
wards  the  obstructing  newspaper.  He 
wants  to  break  the  silence,  he  lacks  courage 
and  goes  to  the  kitchen. 

"Ma,  I  wish  you'd  tell  him." 

"Oh,  son,  I  think  you  ought  to  tell  him 
yourself." 

"But,  Ma— oh,  well,  I  will,  hang  it  all." 

"Son"  returns  to  the  sitting  room.  The 
newspaper  still  absorbs  his  father's  attention. 

Another  spell  of  fidgets,  another  rush  to 
the  kitchen. 

"Ma,  I  think  I'll  wrait  until  tomorrow, 
then  I'll  ask  Pa  to  go  hunting,  he  likes  to  go 
186 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

with  me,  then  I'll  get  him  in  a  fence  corner 
and  tell  him  I'll  shoot  if  he  says  no." 

"Now,  son,  just  go  in  and  have  it  over 
with,  Pa  will  be  all  right." 

Jane  goes  in  and  whispers,  "Do  make 
it  easy  for  the  boy." 

Jane  goes  back  to  the  kitchen.  Lester, 
breathlessly,  "Did  you  tell  him,  Ma?" 

"No  ,son,  it  wouldn't  be  proper,  go  your 
self." 

Lester  rushes  in,  "Pa,  I  want — Pa,  I'd 
like — well,  Pa  I'm  going  to  get  married." 

"Oh,  are  you,  son?  Well  who  is  the 
other  Babe  in  the  Woods?  There's  some 
lady  mixed  up  in  this  case,  isn't  there  ?" 

Of  course  "Pa"  has  known  all  the  time 
the  cause  of  Lester's  perturbation.  Jerry 
and  Jane  had  talked  hnlf  the  night  before 
about  their  boy  with  all  the  tenderness  and 
all  the  wonderment  that  come  to  parents 
187 


THE  STORY  OF 

when  they  awaken  with  surprise  to  the  fact 
that  their  little  child— their  baby— is  a 
grown  up  and  getting  ready  to  take  into  the 
life  that  has  heretofore  belonged  so  closely  to 
them  another  to  whom  he  will  cleave  closer 
than  to  father  or  mother. 

"The  other  Babe  in  the  Woods"  was  a 
sweet  school  girl,  Gerlie  Kelly  by  name. 
Jerry  and  Jane  took  her  to  their  warm  hearts. 
Little  Hallie's  place  was  not  quite  vacant  af 
ter  Gerlie  came. 

Lester  brought  his  pretty  wife  to  the 
farm  home  and  the  same  evening  Jerry  called 
Jane  aside  and  whispered,  "Let  us  go  on  a 
bridal  tour.  We'll  take  the  night  train  for 
Kansas  City  and  leave  the  Babes  in  the 
Woods  to  keep  house  by  themselves,  they  will 
be  happier  alone." 

"But,"  said  Jane,  "I'm  not  ready  to  go 
so  soon."     "Oh,  never  mind,  just  go  as  you 
188 


JERKY  SIMPSON. 

are  and  we'll  buy  some  wedding  toggery  in 
Kansas  City." 

And  so  they  went — these  life-long 
chums — a  wiser,  sadder,  happier  pair  than 
sailed  so  long  ago  upon  the  Summer  Cloud. 

For  one  blessed,  care-free  month  they 
staid  in  Kansas  City. 

Jerry  read  to  Jane,  they  joked,  they 
laughed,  they  shopped,  they  went  to  the 
theatres,  they  ordered  good  things  at  the  res 
taurants,  they  planned  for  the  future  of  the 
dear  children  in  the  home  nest,  whom  Jerry 
always  spoke  of  as  their  Babes  in  the  Woods. 
They  talked  much  and  wondered  about  the 
mysterious  Great  Beyond. 

And  this  their  second  bridal  trip  was 
better,  richer  than  their  first. 


189 


THE  SIMPLE  LIFE. 


XIX. 

The  Simple  Life. 

The  home  life  of  the  Simpson's  at  Wash 
ington  was  replete  with  comfort.  Mrs. 
Simpson  was  a  prime  home  manager.  There 
was  no  extravagance  nor  attempt  at  vain  dis 
play.  The  Simpson  bank  book  was  for 
"Jane's"  unquestioned  use,  as  much  a  matter 
of  course  as  for  Jerry's. 

In  this  well  ordered  household  there 
were  no  special  company  ways  or  manners. 
The  simple  routine  of  everyday  life  was 
amply  provident  for  their  guests.  The  home 
atmosphere  was  cordial  and  attractive. 

193 


THE  STOPiY  OF 

Jerry  was  always  "company"  in  Jane's 
reckoning.  His  return  from  an  absence, 
ever  so  brief,  was  preceeded  by  a  refurbish 
ing  and  dainty  freshening  up  such  as  in  many 
households  betoken  the  coming  of  some  form 
al  and  distinguished  visitor.  Jane  put  on 
her  best  house-gowns  for  Jerry  and  there  went 
into  her  greeting  of  her  husband  an  odd  little 
mixture  of  half  bashfulness  and  pretty  cere 
mony  that  was  quite  without  constraint  yet 
with  a  flavor  such  as  goes  with  youth-time. 
The  wear  and  tear  of  years — the  strain  of 
tempermental  difference  had  tugged  in  vain 
to  bring  apathy  or  commonplaceness  of  regard 
between  these  two  who  chose  each  other  at  the 
spelling  school  so  many  years  before. 

Parade  or  boastfulness  were  quite  out 

of   the   question   for  Jerry   Simpson  but  in 

some   subtle,   though  unspoken  way,   it  was 

manifest  that  he  appreciated  all  the  capacity 

194 


JERRY  SIMPSOK 

and  the  cookery  of  his  wife.  He  never  ad 
dressed  her  in  endearing  words,  but  there 
went  into  the  utterance  of  her  name  the  whole 
meaning  which  others  squander  or  dilute  in 
adjectives.  When  he  said  "Jane"  you  felt 
that  he  had  expressed  the  utmost — that  he 
had  told  of  the  anchorage  of  his  life;  the  one 
word  "Jane"  settled  it.  It  was  a  strange 
power  that  this  unique  man  possessed — that 
of  putting  subtle  meanings  into  words. 

It  was  in  the  Washington  home  that 
many  of  his  choicest  friendships  were  nour 
ished.  Probably  no  experience  in  Jerry 
Simpson's  life  was  more  soul-satisfying  than 
his  meeting,  and  subsequent  warm  friendship 
with  Henry  George.  This  great  propounder 
of  the  gospel  of  human  rights  had  been  for 
many  years  regarded  by  Jerry  with  rever 
ence  such  as  religious  devotees  render  to  the 
founders  of  their  faith. 
195 


THE  STOKY  OP 

Among  the  choice  guests  at  the  Wash 
ington  home  were  Hamlin  Garland,  Henry 
George,  Jr.,  and  Tom  Johnson.  This  coterie 
of  Single  Taxers  visited,  joked,  philoso 
phised  and  planned  together  as  to  ways  and 
means  to  lift  the  burdens  from  the  toil-bent 
backs  of  their  fellow  men.  The  comnran- 
nings  of  these  friends  were  sacramental 
seasons. 

Tom  Johnson  taught  Jerry  to  ride  the 
bicycle  and  these  two  great  souled  men  took 
keen  delight  in  their  wheel  rambles  in  the 
country  about  the  beautiful  national  capital. 

It  was  in  the  Washington  home  that  an 
alarming  illness  came  upon  Jerry.  During 
the  dread  days  of  suspense  when  his  life  was 
in  jeopardy  a  steady  stream  of  anxious  call 
ers  strove  to  render  service.  Members  of 
Congress  of  all  political  faiths  attested  their 
affection  for  their  sick  colleague.  And  when 
196 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

his  days  of  convalescence  came  and  Jerry 
went  over  to  the  House  the  Speaker  paused 
in  the  transaction  of  business  while  the  Mem 
bers  with  beaming  faces  tendered  a  greeting 
that  was  prolonged  into  an  ovation. 

Jerry  Simpson's  ways  with  children 
were  as  unusual  in  manifestation  as  his  other 
distinctive  personal  traits.  He  never  talked 
down  to  their  comprehension,  instead  he  lis 
tened  with  sincere  attention  to  their  childish 
wisdom.  Little  children  turned  to  him  in 
stinctively  and  he  received  the  token  of  their 
favor  with  keen  relish — they  were  friends  on 
equal  terms.  Ah,  what  a  democrat  he  was. 

Had  it  not  been  for  Jerry's  generosity 
with  friends  there  would  have  been  a  few 
thousand  dollars  more  to  his  credit  when  he 
left  Congress. 

From  his  six  years  of  service  at  the  Na 
tion's  Capital,  Jerry  came  back  to  his  Barber 
197 


THE  STORY  OF 

County  farm  in  Kansas,  poor  of  purse.  He 
retired  from  a  public  career,  which  to  a  man 
of  less  integrity,  might  have  afforded  un 
stinted  opportunity  for  private  gain. 

What  other  should  you  look  for  in  a 
man  so  calmly  certain  of  the  essential  good 
ness  of  mankind  and  so  supremely  trustful 
of  the  eventual  establishment  of  justice  upon 
earth  than  that  he  would  remain  unruffled  by 
temporary  rebuff  of  his  political  principles 
and  undisconcerted  by  personal  defeat  in 
politics. 

What  other  should  you  look  for  in  a 
man  whose  mind  his  kingdom  was,  than  that 
his  resourcefulness  would  carry  him  cheerily 
through  whatever  vicissitudes  befell. 

It  was  part  of  the  popular  misconcep 
tion    malingering    from    the    early    days    of 
Populism  that  Jerry  was  incapable  in  busi 
ness  ways:     quite  the  reverse  was  true. 
198 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

Fifteen  thousand  dollars  cash  and  not 
one  dollar  of  debt  stood  to  Jerry  Simpson's 
account  when  he  went  from  northern  Kansas 
to  Barter  County  in  1883.     A  modest  sum 
but  every  dollar  earned  by  industry  and  by 
discreet    and    careful    deals    involving    even 
wiser  personal  oversight  than  is  oftentimes 
required   in  the   accumulation   of  huge   for 
tunes  where  speculation  or  legislative  man 
ipulation  enter  as  factors  in  the  game. 

Abraham  Lincoln  said,  after  his  election 
to  the  presidency ;  "I  hope  some  time  to  be 
worth  twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  that  is 
all  anyone  ought  to  possess." 

During  Jerry's  second  term  in  Congress, 
an  illness  threatening  fatality  came  upon 
him.  Then  followed  a  most  exhausting  po 
litical  campaign.  He  did  not  regain  his 
former  health.  Labor  on  the  farm  soon 
grew  beyond  his  physical  endurance.  The 
199 


THE  STOKY  OF 

farm  home  was  sold  and  the  family  moved 
to  Wichita  where  they  lived  three  years. 
While  there,  Jerry  became  the  manager  of  a 
live  stock  commission,  which  for  a  time  did  a 
thriving  business.  He  was  a  valuable  and 
favorite  -member  of  the  Western  Cattlemen's 
Association. 

His  steadily  declining  health  caused  him 
in  1901  to  seek  a  home  at  Roswell,  New 
Mexico,  where  he  went  into  the  real  estate 
business  with  Charles  De  Freest.  He  also 
secured  an  agency  for  the  sale  of  Santa  Fe 
railway  lands.  He  chartered  a  car,  loaded 
it  with  the  luscious  products  of  that  fertile 
country  and  made  a  tour  of  the  middle  states. 
His  interesting  lectures  and  original  exposi 
tions  of  that  picturesque  and  fertile  country 
attracted  many  settlers  to  New  Mexico. 
Perhaps  none  of  the  several  breadwinning 
ventures  of  his  life  gave  him  more  genuine 
200 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

pleasure  than  this  opportunity  to  persuade 
people  to  turn  their  attention  to  the  develop 
ment  of  nature's  storehouses  which  hold 
abundant  health  and  wealth  and  human 
happiness. 

Jerry  Simpson's  enthusiasm  in  this 
Land  and  Immigration  enterprise  was  con 
tagious.  It  was  a  poetic  finis  to  the  life  work 
of  this  ardent  lover  of  Nature— this  believer 
in  the  soil  and  in  the  simple  life. 

At  Wichita,  in  1901,  a  little  son  was 
born   to   "Son"   Lester   and   Gerlie— Jerry's 
"Babes  in  the  Woods."     They  named  him 
Jerry,  jr.,  and  upon  this  small  boy  his  grand 
father  lavished  tenderness  such  as  long  years 
before  went  to  his  own  Little  Hallie.     The 
young  people,  Lester  and  Gerlie,  moved  from 
Wichita   to   Roswell   and   made   their  home 
rear  their  parents.  -  Perhaps  Jerry  Senior 
had  never  in  all  his  modest  life  come  nearer 
201 


THE  STORY  OF 

to  being  vain  than  when,  his  grandson,  at 
riving  at  time  of  speech,  made  bright  and 
quaint  remarks  beyond  his  years.  What 
jolly  chums  these  two  were.  The  small  man 
and  his  grandfather  walked  the  streets  of 
Roswell  hand  in  hand  in  perfect  fulness  of 
mutual  admiration. 

The  new  friends  in  the  village  of  Eos- 
well  took  Jerry  Simpson  to  their  hearts, 
there  as  elsewhere,  he  was  a  beloved  and 
honored  citizen.  His  wit  sparkled  and  his 
humor  glowed  for  the  pleasure  of  this  small 
circle  as  unstintedly  as  for  his  larger  audi 
ences  on  the  national  stage  at  Washington. 


202 


OLD  FRIENDS  AND  NEW  DAYS. 


XX. 

Old  Friends  and  New  Days. 

It  was  written  in  the  book  of  fate  that 
for  Jerry  Simpson  there  would  be  one  more 
old  time  political  meeting — one  more  occa 
sion  of  hot  enthusiasm,  of  upturned  glowing 
faces,  of  hand-clasps,  and  of  greetings  laden 
with  such  loyalty  and  love  as  seldom  go  from 
man  to  man.  It  was  his  last  public  speech. 
It  was  at  Pond  Creek,  Oklahoma.  An  im 
mense  crowd  of  old  friends  awaited  his  ar 
rival.  When  he  left  the  train  men  rushed 
forward,  took  him  on  their  shoulders  and 
bore  him  to  the  place  of  meeting.  No  time 
of  the  old  times  exceeded  this  in  fervor  and 
in  that  strange  delirium  which  only  a  crowd 
in  love  with  a  political  idol  can  beget. 

The  master  of  ceremonies  was  Charley 
205 


THE  STOEY  OF 

Taylor,  an  official  under  the  administration 
of  Governor  Leedy,  the  second  Populist  gov 
ernor  of  Kansas. 

"I  can  see  now/'  said  Jerry,  "why  I 
failed  of  election  the  last  time  I  ran  for  Con 
gress.  Here  you  are,  a  large  part  of  my  old 
time  majority  from  the  good  old  seventh  dis 
trict.  You  moved  over  here  to  make  new 
homes  in  this  rich  country.  Kansas  lost 
what  Oklahoma  gained." 

For  three  full  hour?,  Jerry  spoke,  with  all 
the  fire  and  all  the  fun,  and  all  the  fervid 
prophecy  that  vitalized  his  speeches  years  be 
fore.  And  when  he  took  his  leave  he  pledged 
them  all  to  undying  loyalty  to  Populist  prin 
ciples  and  to  untiring  efforts  to  bring  Okla 
homa  into  the  Union  holding  out  a  fairer, 
fuller  chance  for  men  than  any  of  her  sister 
ccmmonwealths. 

As  a  goodby  word  he  said:  aBoys,  you 
have  given  me  today,  some  of  the  happiest 
moments  of  my  life." 

206 


THE  JOURNEY  ENDED. 


XXL 

The  Journey  Ended. 

Like  unto  a  drama  on  the  mimic  stage 
when  the  closing  act  is  reached  there  need 
be  hut  hints  and  touches — sentences  expla- 
tive  here  and  there,  to  synthesize  the  cumula 
tive  story.  So,  in  this  story  of  real  life, 
there  needs  he  but  a  flash  light  here  and  there 
to  show  where  and  how  the  brief  time  was 
passed  before  the  closing  day  and  hour,  when, 
for  Jerry  Simpson,  time  surrendered  to 
eternity. 

It    is    September    1905.     The    closing 
scenes  rush  swiftly  toward  the  curtain  fall. 

Jerry  is  at  home  in  Koswell.     He  has 
anuerism  of  the  heart.     For  months  he  has 
209 


THE  STORY  OF 

felt  death  drawing  near.  He  suffers  great 
bodily  pain.  He  can  speak  only  in  whispers. 
But  there  is  no  gloom  about  the  house,  in 
stead  there  is  an  exaltation,  as  if  the  on-com 
ing  Solemnity  heralded  a  sublime  and  per 
fect  peace. 

As  to  the  Life  Beyond,  Jerry  has  no 
dogmatism,  he  sometimes  says,  "I  rather 
think  that  we  shall  go  on  and  live  and  learn ; 
in  this  life  we  get  our  first  lessons  and  then 
pass  on  to  other  grades." 

Jerry  Simpson  loves  to  live  upon  this 
earth.  He  would  like  to  regain  health 
against  the  time  which  he  so  surely  believes 
is  coming  when  the  American  people  will  re 
align  their  forces  and  engage  in  another 
mighty  contest  on  issues  vital  to  the  nation. 
But,  if  it  cannot  be — if  he  is  never  to  be 
well  again — why  then  he  will  look  death  in 
the  face  as  squarely  and  as  unafraid  as  he  has 
210 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

faced  all  things  else  in  life.  He  has  found 
men  friendly,  it  has  been  good  to  be  alive, 
so,  then  he  "will  press  death's  hand,  and 
having  died,  feel  none  the  less  how  beautiful 
it  is  to  be  alive." 

Jane,  once  the  invalid,  tenderly  cared 
for  by  her  husband,  is  now  the  stronger.  It 
is  she  who  reads  aloud  the  last  few  months. 
She  reads  Trine's  In  Tune  With  the  Infinite, 
and,  for  the  very  last  book  of  all,  she  reads 
The  Riddle  of  the  Universe.  The  time  that 
Jerry  long  ago  foretold  has  come  to  little 
Jane,  "she  understands." 

Jerry  is  beamingly  happy,  despite  his 
pain  and  weakness,  when  "Son"  Lester  and 
Gerlie  come.  He  fondles  Jerry  Jr.,  and 
takes  great  delight  in  whispered  chats  with 
him. 

The  word  has  gone  abroad  that  Jerry 
Simpson  is  alarmingly  ill.  Letters  of  sym- 
211 


THE  STOKY  OF 

pathy,  telegrams  of  inquiry,  pour  in. 
Friends  make  pilgrimages  to  Roswell. 

The  new  home  and  the  new  friends  are 
very  dear  to  Jerry,  yet  he  yearns  for  Kansas 
that  so  honored  him  and  that  he  honored  in 
return. 

One  day,  in  the  late  September,  Jerry 
and  Jane,  start  for  Wichita.  These  two  have 
journeyed  many  times  together,  this  is  the 
last  time. 

The  doors  of  St.  Francis  Hospital, 
Wichita,  open  to  a  sadly  worn,  exhausted 
man.  But  worn  and  pain-wracked  though 
he  was,  he  smiled  and  jested.  Gloom  and 
Jerry  simply  could  not  live  together. 

Judge  Stevens,  of  Medicine  Lodge, 
came  to  St.  Francis  Hospital  to  serve  his  old 
friend. 

Dr.  Minick,  the  hospital  physician,  was 
the  Republican  committeeman  who  officiated 
212 


JEREY  SIMPSON. 

on  the  si'le  of  Senator  Long  during  the  fam 
ous  Simpson-Long  debates. 

Dr.  D.  H.  Galloway,  beloved  friend  and 
attendant  physician  at  Koswell,  assisted  in 
the  care  of  Jerry  at  St.  Francis. 

The  good  Sisters  of  St.  Francis  Hospital 
marveled  at  the  stream  of  callers,  the  tele 
grams,  the  loads  of  flowers  for  this  new 
patient. 

Inquiries  came  to  the  "Wichita  Eagle" 
office  from  all  over  America,  asking  to  be 
kept  advised  as  to  Jerry  Simpson's  condition. 
The  days  at  the  hospital  run  into  weeks. 
The  friends  of  the  brave,  cheery  patient  gath- 
ei  now  and  then  a  little  hope.  The  press 
dispatches  are  anxiously  read;  in  many  thou 
sand  homes  the  first  item  sought  in  the  daily 
paper  is  that  which  brings  word  of  the  sick 
man  at  Wichita. 

The    physicians    can    permit    but    few 
213 


THE  STOKY  OF 

friends  to  enter  the  sick  room;  among  those 
who  may  see  Jerry  are  his  loyal  friends 
David  Leahy  and  Victor  Murdock.  Mr. 
Murdock  holds  the  place  in  Congress  which 
once  was  Jerry's.  He  is  the  "little  red 
headed  reporter,"  named  thus  hy  Jerry  in 
the  early  Populist  days,  who  started  the 
"sockless"  story.  Jerry  believes  in  him  and 
loves  him  well.  With  Mr.  Leahy,  Jerry 
leaves  a  special  word  to  the  "hoys"  of  the 
press. 

There  is  time  between  paroxysms  of 
pain  for  much  conference  with  Jane.  Jerry 
wishes  her  to  buy  a  little  home  and  live  in 
Wichita — which  she  will  do.  He  also  talks 
much  of  Jerry  Jr.  Jane  is  enjoined  to  look 
to  it  that  the  little  lad  is  given  the  best  op 
portunity  for  schooling.  He  thinks  there 
are  great  things  possible  for  the  child. 

In  one  impassioned  hour  he  said,  "Oh, 
214 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

Jane  do  not  be  afraid  when  I  am  gone,  I  will 
take  care  of  you,  I  will  be  with  you,  no  harm 
shall  come  to  you." 

Whether  this  assurance  to  the  little  wife 
he  had  so  tenderly  shielded  arose  from  some 
vast  pity  that  made  the  wish  father  to  the 
thought  or  whether  it  was  conviction  flashed 
upon  him  from  the  luminous  Life  to  which 
he  was  very  near,  no  one  can  surely  say. 

Lester,  Gerlie  and  Jerry  Jr.  came  to  St. 
Francis  Hospital  for  the  last  days. 

"Come  and  kiss  me,  son,"  said  Jerry  to 
Lester,  and  then,  half  shame-facedly,  he  said, 
"Jane  do  you  think  I'm  a  baby  ?" 

The  nurses,  wanting  perfect  quiet,  some 
times  sent  Mrs.  Simpson  from  the  sick-room. 
Jerry  then  would  motion  Jane  to  him  and 
whisper,  "Come  back  as  soon  as  they  are 
gone  and  snuggle  down  by  me."  And  she 
would  slip  back  and  they  would  hold  each 
215 


THE  STORY  OF 

others  hands  and  talk  over  early  days  and 
laugh,  gleefully,  like  prankish  children  be 
cause  they  had  disobeyed  orders  and  eluded 
the  nurses. 

There  are  but  a  few  hours  left.  Some 
thing  has  cleared  away  and  Jerry  can  speak 
aloud.  Then  comes  a  spasm  of  pain  more 
dreadful  than  any  before  endured  and  Jerry 
says:  "Well  now  I'm  up  aginst  it;  this  is 
the  real  demon,  all  the  rest  has  been  a  joke." 
There  are  now  five  minutes  left,  Jerry 
smiles,  the  pain  is  gone,  he  breathes  easily. 
Then  all  is  quiet,  and  Jane  and  Lester  and 
Gerlie  and  Jerry  Jr.  look  at  his  peaceful 
happy  face  and  know  that  he  is  dead.  It  is 
the  morning  of  October  twenty-third,  1905. 

Flags  are  at  half  mast,  in  other  Kansas 

towns,  as  well  as  in  Wichita.     The  body  lies 

in  state  in  the  Masonic  Temple.     Women  of 

the  Relief  Corps  drape  the  flag  about  him. 

216 


JEKKY  SIMPSON. 

'I  i  --''    is 

The  solemn  service  of  the  Scottish  Kite  de 
gree  of  Masonry  will  be  held.  The  ministra 
tions  which  others  find  in  churches,  Jerry 
Simpson  found  in  the  Masonic  Lodge. 

These  loving  friends,  Victor  Murdock, 
Col.  Thomas  G.  Fitch,  Amos  McLain,  P.  M. 
Anderson,  F.  A.  Amedon,  and  O.  H.  Bentley, 
will  bear  the  body  to  the  grave. 

The  hour  for  the  funeral  service  is 
come.  The  large  auditorium  is  crowded, 
many  are  unable  to  gain  entrance.  There 
is  a  blend  of  sadness  and  exultation  in  the 
feeling  of  many  of  those  present:  sad  be 
cause  there  will  be  no  more  earthly  greeting 
from  Jerry  Simpson;  exultant  in  the  mem 
ory  of  the  noble  life  of  this  tried  and  true 
American. 

The  whole  panorama  of  his  life  passes 
in   great    and   glowing   pictures   before   the 
heart-sore    listeners    while    Victor    Murdock 
217 


THE  STORY  OF 

pays  this  great  tribute  to  his  friend: 

"Here  halt  the  quick,  and  here  the  dead 
progress.     He  has  gone  out  alone,  far  in  the 
deep  darkness,  where  for  each  one  of  us  a 
grave  is  hidden.     Eye  nor  voice  nor  hand 
may    follow    him.     The    black    barrier    is 
dropped  between  him  and  us — the  black  bar 
rier  between  the  quick  and  the  dead.     Fac 
ing  the  iron  and  cruel  gate  stand  the  quick, 
some   stark   in    fear,    some   benumbed   with 
grief,  some  wrapped  in  wonder,  but  all  alikb 
halted,     arrested     inexorably.     Before     the 
mighty  mandate  we  pause,  and  then,  in  all 
humility,  cry  out,  as  children  of  sorrow,  our 
little  word  of  comfort  to  his  loved  ones,  our 
little   word   of  tribute   to   a   friend.     If   we 
hope,    refuse   us   not   the   privilege.     If  we 
reach  out  a  little  in  the  dark  refuse  us  not. 
If  the  stars  and  the  wind  and  the  sunshine 
and  the  rose  whisper  to  us  the  evidence  of 
218 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

infinity  and  promise  of  eternity,  let  the  ma 
terial  world  refuse  us  not  For  standing  out 
against  the  bald,  black  wall  this  afternoon 
let  us  cry  out  again;  for  our  friend  we  can 
not  call,  our  friend  we  cannot  longer  see,  let 
us  cry  out  the  only  challenge  that  ever  met 
the  thrown  glove  of  death — the  thundering 
answer  of  a  mighty  faith.  The  soul  is  im 
mortal,  for,  as  God,  the  giver,  is  infinite,  so 
is  the  spirit  He  gives  eternal. 

"When  he  was  dying,  Horace  Greely 
murmured:  Tame  is  a  vapor;  popularity 
an  accident;  riches  take  wings;  those  who 
bless  today  will  curse  tomorrow.  Only  one 
thing  endures — character.'  Jerry  Simpson 
had  character. 

"I  asked  him  once  why  he  came  to  Kan 
sas — what  called  him  here.  'The  magic  of 
a  kernel,  the  witchcraft  in  a  seed.  The  de 
sire  to  put  something  into  the  ground  and 
219 


THE  STOKY  OF 

see  it  grow  and  reproduce  its  kind  came  to 
me,  and  I  did  not  resist  it/  he  said.  That's 
why  I  came  to  Kansas.' 

"The  mischievous  fates  placed  him  in 
the  only  agricultural  section  of  the  world 
capable  of  spontaniety  in  novel  political  ac 
tion  in  Kansas.  And  when  the  political 
storm  arose,  there  sprang,  full-armed,  to  lead 
it,  the  son  of  the  Canadian  snows,  the  son  of 
the  lashing  lake,  the  son  of  the  Kansas  prai 
rie — Jerry  Simpson. 

"Do  you  remember  him :  his  entrance  to 
the  stage;  his  attitude  before  an  audience; 
that  smile,  that  charming,  winning,  and  that 
warning  smile  ?  Do  you  remember  his  eyes, 
the  eyes  where  lightning  played  fast  and  in 
cessant  from  a  hot  heart  and  an  electric 
mind  ?  Do  you  remember  the  whole  attitude 
that  cried  out  to  you,  'Come  on,  and  beware  ?' 
In  that  day,  men  in  Kansas  carried  him  on 
220 


JEKEY  SIMPSON. 

their  shoulders.  And  when  success  came, 
Washington  yielded  its  admiration,  for,  in 
the  sally  of  debate  there,  no  adversary  ever 
put  him  down,  but  many  went  down  before 
him.  It  was  a  great,  a  picturesque  career, 
and  he  deserved  it  all.  He  won  it  all,  and 
he  won  it  alone." 


The  journey  ends  at  the  beautiful  Maple 
Grove  Cemetery,  where  later  on  they  brought 
the  coffined  dust  of  Little  Hallie  and  made 
a  little  grave  beside  that  of  her  father. 


And  here  his  friend,  who  knew  him  long 
and  well,  the  writer  of  this  story,  says  good- 
by.  A  kindlier,  more  unselfish,  more  chival 
rous  man  I  never  knew. 

"Lord  keep  his  memory  green." 
221 


JERRY  SIMPSON,  JR 


RUSSELL  SIMPSON 


TKIBUTES  FEOM  FKIENDS. 


JERKY  SIMPSON. 


HON.  TOM  L.  JOHNSON. 

DEAR  MRS.  DIGGS — 

I  am  delighted  that  you  are  writing  the 
life  of  Jerry  Simpson,  a  rough  diamond  of 
a  man  whose  every  impulse  was  for  good.  I 
learned  to  love  him  when  we  were  members 
of  Congress  together. 

Before  he  arrived  he  was  heralded  as 
"Sockless  Jerry/7  which  gave  him  a  false 
and  unpleasant  introduction  but  as  he  became 
better  known  the  real  greatness  of  his  char 
acter  developed.  When  he  left  Congress 
there  was  no  man  who  held  the  respect  of 
both  friends  and  foes  more  than  Jerry  Simp 
son. 

225 


THE  STORY  OF 

I  have  seen  him  face  the  hot  blooded 
members  of  Congress  hurling  almost  insults 
at  him  and  in  his  quiet  dignified  way  humili 
ate  them  in  the  presence  of  the  whole  House. 
One  scene  especially  I  remember  in  which 
under  a  vile  attack,  without  any  excitement 
whatever,  he  first  resisted  and  then  con 
quered  his  antagonist  who  within  a  few  days 
not  only  apologized  but  became  one  of  his 
strongest  admirers. 

Congressman  Hatch  of  Missouri,  one  of 
the  democratic  leaders  in  endorsement  of 
Jerry  Simpson's  real  democracy  once  offered 
on  the  floor  of  the  House  to  trade  off  ten 
weak-kneed  democrats  for  Jerry  Simpson  the 
populist  and  the  sentiment  was  warmly  ap 
plauded.  He  did  this  to  emphasize  his  be 
lief  in  Jerry  Simpson's  democracy  by  com 
parison  with  some  men  who  only  thought 
they  were  democrats. 

226 


JEKKY  SIMPSON. 

I  taught  Jerry  to  ride  a  bicycle  and  we 
made  many  a  journey  in  and  around  Wash 
ington.  It  was  on  these  trips  more  than  at 
any  other  time  that  I  learned  the  big  impulse 
that  inspired  his  life  and  the  tremendous 
sacrifice  he  was  making  and  had  made  in 
the  cause  of  the  plain  people. 

There  were  some  men  who  dressed  bet 
ter;  some  men  who  had  a  smoother  flow  of 
words,  but  in  his  rugged  way  he  had  the 
greatest  power  of  happy  expression  of  any 
man  I  knew. 

During  all  my  acquaintance  with  him  I 
never  saw  him  fail  either  in  judgment,  cour 
age  or  discretion. 

Trusting  that  your  work  will  in  some 
way  give  the  picture  of  this  great  man's  life, 

I  remain, 

Sincerely  yours, 

TOM  L.  JOHNSON. 
Cleveland,  Ohio. 

227 


THE  STORY  OF 

SENATOR  CHESTER  I.  LONG. 

From  1886  to  1902  in  every  political 
campaign  Jerry  Simpson  and  I  supported 
different  tickets  and  candidates.  In  four 
campaigns  we  were  opposing  candidates  for 
congress.  During  all  that  time  we  disagreed 
on  political  principles  but  our  personal  rela 
tions  were  friendly.  He  was  a  most  skillful 
antagonist,  a  resourceful  debater  and  one  of 
the  best  political  speakers  Kansas  has  pro 
duced. 

Medicine  Lodge,  Kansas. 

TOM  McNEAL. 

I  made  Mr.  Simpson's  acquaintance 
very  shortly  after  he  settled  in  Barber  coun 
ty,  and  was  intimately  acquainted  with  him 
during  a  considerable  portion  of  the  time 
of  his  residence  there.  While  it  chanced  that 
he  and  I  differed  politically,  I  always  enter- 
228 


JEEKY  SIMPSON. 

tained  a  high  opinion  of  his  ability  and  re 
spect  for  his  personal  integrity.  I  regarded 
him  as  a  remarkable  man.  He  was  pos 
sessed  of  great  native  wit,  shrewdness  and 
courage.  He  was  a  born  leader  of  men  and 
easily  commanded  both  the  respect  and  fidel 
ity  of  his  followers.  His  native  wit  and 
shrewdness  enabled  him  to  adapt  himself 
easily  to  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  so 
that  he  was  at  home,  either  when  mingling 
with  the  rough  bearded  farmers  of  his  own 
district,  or  with  the  smooth  shaven  and  well 
dressed  denizens  of  the  metropolis. 

An  omnivorous  reader  and  possessed  of 
a  marvelous  memory,  his  mind  became  a 
veritable  store  house  of  information.  This 
fact  connected  with  his  natural  mental  alert' 
ness  made  him  one  of  the  most  formidable 
antagonists  in  a  rough  and  tumble  debate  that 
this  country  has  ever  known. 
229 


THE  STOKY  OF 

Long  before  his  death  his  political  ene 
mies  had  ceased  to  ridicule  him  and  had 
come  to  regard  him  as  a  man  of  much  more 
than  ordinary  power.  Few  men,  indeed, 
have  passed  away  about  whom  more  was 
said,  spoken  and  written  that  was  commend 
atory,  and  less  that  was  deprecatory  as  to 
either  his  character  or  ability. 

My  personal  relations  with  him  were 
always  of  the  most  pleasant  character  and  I 
learned  of  his  death  with  feelings  of  pro 
found  regret. 
Topeka,  Kansas. 

WILLIAM  JENNINGS  BKYAN. 

When  Jerry  Simpson,  as  he  was  famil 
iarly  called,  entered  Congress  he  was  dubbed 
"Sockless  Simpson,"  and  "The  Sockless 
Statesman,"  by  some  of  the  eastern  papers. 
But  his  colleagues  were  not  long  in  finding 
230 


JEKKF  SIMPSOK 

out  that  his  claim  to  distinction  was  in  his 
head  rather  than  in  his  feet. 

He  at  once  entered  the  lists  as  a  debater 
and  was  the  hero  of  a  number  of  interesting 
discussions.  His  speeches  contained  a  de 
lightful  commingling  of  logic  and  humor,  and 
his  hearty  good  nature  made  him  popular  on 
both  sides  of  the  House. 

No  question  under  consideration  in  the 
National  Congress  was  too  large  for  him  to 
grapple  with  and  he  clarified  every  subject 
which  he  discussed. 

My  esteem  for  Jerry  Simpson  increased 
as  my  acquaintance  with  him  grew. 
Lincoln,  Nebraska. 

WILLIAM  GAEEISON. 

God  gave  us  prophets  of  old  to  warn  the 
people   of  coming   danger.     When  our  flag 
had  brooded  over  slavery  eighty  years,  pro- 
231 


THE  STORY  OF 

tccting  not  the  weak,  God  gave  us  a  Lincoln 
to  give  the  nation  a  new  birth  of  freedom. 

When  combinations  of  wealth  were  fill 
ing  the  halls  of  Congress  with  their  agents ; 
when  the  great  Mississippi  Valley  seemed 
content  with  a  system  that  taxed  the  people 
TO  make  millionaires;  when  the  wealth  of  a 
nation  was  in  the  hands  of  a  few,  it  was  then 
we  heard  the  voice  of  Jerry  Simpson  crying 
in  the  school  houses  of  Kansas:  "Equal 
rights  to  all,  special  privileges  to  none." 

I  had  the  pleasure  of  nominating  Jerry 
Simpson,  at  Wichita,  for  his  second  term  in 
Congress.     He  was  greatly  beloved  and  was 
regarded  as  the  Abraham  Lincoln  of  Kansas. 
When  the  history  of  reform  is  written ; 
when   we  have   a   government   administered 
by  and  for  the  people  let  it  be  said  of  Jerry 
Simpson  that  he  gave  the  best  of  his  life  to 
free  labor  from  the  bondage  of  capital. 
Pond  Greek,  Oklahoma. 
232 


JERKY  SIMPSON. 

DENNIS  FLYNK 
Jerry  Simpson  and  I  differed  radically 
in   politics,   but   we   have    always   been   the 
warmest   personal   friends.     I   have   known 
him   for   twenty  years.     We  both  lived   in 
Barber  county  when  only  a  few  of  us  were 
living  there,  and  when  we  both  went  to  Con 
gress  we  neighbored  at  the  Capital  City  and 
neighbored  closely.     Mr.    Simpson    did   not 
prove  discreditable  to  Kansas  in  Congress. 
Before    his    entrance    to    that    body    people 
thought  they  would  see  a  show,  but  his  col 
leagues  soon  learned  to  respect  him  and  then 
learned  to   admire  his   ready  wit   and  fine 
natural  talents.     He  made  himself  agreeable 
to  the  members  and  took  an  active  part  in 
the  proceedings   of  the  lower  House.     The 
benches  and  galleries  were  never  empty  when 
it  was  known  that  he  would  have  the  floor 
to  speak. 

Guthrie,  Oklahoma. 

233 


THE  STOEY  OF 

DAVID  LEAHY. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  have  an  intimate 
personal  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Simpson  for 
a  period  long  antedating  the  appearance  of 
either  an  ambition  or  a  disposition  to  enter 
public  life  until  the  hour  of  his  death.     In 
that  last  hour — that  awful  hour  when   the 
world    receded    from    his    conscious    vision, 
when    the   unknown    was   but   a   threshold's 
width  away,  when  the  sable  curtain  fell  for 
ever  between  him  and  those  he  loved— he  was 
the  same  Jerry  Simpson  whom  I  had  known 
on  the  farm,  in  the  small,  curious  combina 
tions  of  village  activity,  in  the  superheated 
politics  of  the  district,  in  Congress  and  in 
his  retirement.     This  last  hour  was  the  proof 
of  his  whole  life— it  was  the  perfected  and 
completed  evidence  of  the  sincerity  of  all  his 
public  and  private  actions  and  utterances,  of 
the  truth  of  his  professions  that  he  was  the 
friend  of  man. 

234 


JEKEY  SIMPSON. 

Tempermentally  Mr.  Simpson  was  what 
is  generally  known  as  a  good  fellow.  It  was 
this  quality  in  him  that  made  so  many  of  his 
political  enemies  his  personal  friends.  It 
was  this  quality  in  him  that  made  Kansas 
weep  many  honest  tears  when  he  passed 
away.  He  was  a  choice  companion,  never 
dull,  stupid  or  even  commonplace.  I  never 
knew  a  newspaper  man  who  did  not  secretly 
admire  his  personality  although  the  exigen 
cies  of  party  politics  might  have  forced  them 
into  open  and  seemingly  bitter  condemnation 
of  his  methods.  Interviewers  and  writers  of 
contemporary  activity  loved  him.  He  was  to 
them  what  meat  and  drink  and  shade  are  to 
the  travelers  in  the  desert.  In  all  his  utter 
ances  there  was  material  for  a  story  and  a 
quaintness  and  originality  of  expression  that 
never  failed  to  give  a  professionally  desired 
tout  ensemble  to  an  interview.  People  have 
235 


THE  STORY  OF 

erroneously  interpreted  his  tact  and  readi 
ness  to  accommodate  reporters  as  a  fondness 
for  notoriety.  It  was  not.  The  truth  is 
this,  that  Mr.  Simpson  was  a  sincere  believer 
in  certain  reform  principles  and  had  an  apos 
tolic  zeal  in  their  diffusion  among  the  people. 
Carried  away  by  this  zeal  he  often  was  frank 
and  candid  to  the  uttermost  and  outermost 
limits  of  danger  in  expression,  and  if  news 
paper  men  had  loved  him  less  he  might  have 
met  many  embarrassments.  Usually  sharp, 
keen  and  penetrative  it  is  not  an  unfavorable 
commentary  on  the  character  of  Mr.  Simpson 
to  say  that  he  was  universally  admired  by 
newspaper  men.  It  was  good  to  know  him 
intimately  as  I  did,  and  no  one  has  a  greater 
measure  of  respect  for  his  memory.  -  He  had 
a  genius  that  would  have  made  him  useful 
and  conspicuous  in  any  age  of  reform  and 
betterment  the  world  has  ever  experienced. 
Wichita,  Kansas. 

236 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 

HOK  CHAMP  CLARK. 

I  valued  Jerry  Simpson  very  highly  as 
a  friend.  He  was  kind,  genial,  bright  and 
faithful.  He  possessed  a  wonderful  assort 
ment  of  general  information  and  was  much 
of  a  philosopher.  He  was  one  of  the  best 
rough  and  tumble  debaters  with  whom  I  have 
served  in  thirteen  years  in  Congress.  His 
wit,  humor,  sarcasm  and  wide  knowledge  of 
men  and  things  rendered  him  a  master  in 
that  difficult  field  of  human  endeavor. 

If  I  should  live  a  thousand  years  I  shall 
never  forget  his  skillful  handling  of  Nelson 
Dingley  and  his  silk  hat  with  the  London 
trade  mark.  That  was  a  rich  and  racy  inci 
dent  which  enlivened  the  proceedings  amaz 
ingly. 

There  was  one  occurence    which    must 
haved  warmed  the  cockles  of  Jerry's  heart. 
When  he  first  appeared  in  the  House  subse- 
237 


THE  STOKY  OF 

quent  to  a  serious  illness  during  which  it  was 
generally  expected  that  he  would  die,  the 
members  cheered  him  till  the  glass  ceiling 
was  in  danger  of  being  cracked.  The  cheer 
ing  was  not  confined  to  Democrats,  Populists 
and  Silverites  but  the  Kepublicans  joined  in 
heartily.  That  was  a  great  day  for  Jerry 
and  was  proof  positive  that  he  stood  high  in 
the  estimation  of  the  House. 

I  shall  always  cherish  his  memory,  both 
as  a  personal  friend  and  a  public  man. 
Bowling  Green,,  Mo. 

HARRY  LANDIS. 
I  was  Jerry  Simpson's  intimate  acquain 
tance  and  warm  friend  in    Barber    County. 
It  seemed  to  me  that  there  was  no  great  sub 
ject  related  to  human  welfare  about  which  he 
had  not  read  and  striven  to  become  informed. 
He  knew  not  fear,  either  mental  or  physical. 
238 


THE  STOEY  OF 

How  strong  and  full  of  health  he  was  in  those 
days.  No  man  in  Barber  County  would  have 
cared  to  arouse  his  righteous  wrath  and  risk 
a  physical  encounter.  He  would  not  quickly 
resent  an  insult  to  himself  but  he  would  read 
ily  punish  a  man  who  was  imposing  upon 
another.  He  was  the  most  skillful  and  pow 
erful  oarsman  I  ever  saw,  it  was  a  delight  to 
see  the  ease  and  grace  with  which  he  would 
manage  a  boat. 

I  have  often  pondered  upon  the  secret 
of  his  influence  as  a  personal  leader  both  in 
private  life  and  in  the  political  field.  I  think 
his  great  personal  popularity  arose  from  his 
abounding  good  nature  and  his  genuine  kind 
liness.  His  power  to  sway  men  in  politics 
rested  chiefly  in  his  own  intense  convictions. 
He  was  in  a  degree  a  fanatic.  That  which 
seemed  to  him  to  be  truth  he  dwelt  upon  un 
til  he  felt  that  it  must  and  would  prevail  and 

239 


THE  STORY  OF 

bring  relief  to  the  needy,  suffering  sons  of 
men. 

He  was  a  big,  strong,  fearless  man,  al 
ways  espousing  the  cause  of  the  weak,  always 
for  the  under  dog  in  the  fight.  He  was  gen 
tle  as  a  woman,  kind,  sunny  tempered,  witty 
and  alert.  He  was  an  incomparable  "mixer" 
and  a  steadfast  friend. 
Kansas  City,  Missouri. 

LOUIS  F.  POST. 

Jerry  Simpson's  name  first  fell  upon  my 
ears  in  the  Union  Station  restaurant  at  Kan 
sas  City.  It  was  about  two  weeks  after  his 
first  election  to  Congress,  and  the  sensational 
victory  of  the  Kansas  populists  was  still  fresh 
in  the  public  mind.  Sitting  opposite  me  at 
the  breakfast  table — I,  a  tenderfoot  freshly 
imported  from  New  York — was  a  disgusted 
and  garrulous  man,  who  explained  what  he 

240 


JEEEY  SIMPSON. 

evidently  regarded  as  a  political  episode  of 
unprecedented  degradation.  "Why,"  said  he 
at  one  point  in  his  tirade  and  with  an  out 
burst  of  contempt,  "they've  elected  a  man  to 
Congress  over  there  who  doesn't  wear  socks." 
The  tone  and  manner  were  so  significant  that 
I  never  stopped  to  reflect  that  a  man's  feet 
might  be  pretty  decently  clothed  with  stock 
ings  instead  of  socks;  and  there  rose  up  in 
my  imagination  what  was  doubtless  the 
counterpart  of  a  picture  that  filled  the  imag 
ination  of  my  chance  acquaintance.  It  was 
a  picture  of  a  ragged  and  barefooted  tramp, 
steeped  in  ignorance  as  well  as  poverty,  "beat 
ing"  his  way  to  Washington  to  take  a  seat  in 
Congress.  Such  a  Congressman  seemed  im 
possible.  But  my  informant  assured  me  that 
what  he  said  was  true,  and  that  the  man's 
name  was  Jerry  Simpson. 


241 


THE  STOEY  OF 

Carrying  this  picture  of  Jerry  Simpson 
in  lay  mind,  I  went  over  to  Kansas.  At 
Lawrence  my  best  informant  told  me  that 
Simpson  was  "a  very  adaptable  man/7  who  in 
a  couple  of  weeks  would  be  "as  much  at  home 
with  a  swallow-tail  coat  in  a  Washington 
drawing  room  as  he  was  then  without  socks 
on  a  Kansas  prairie."  By  the  time  I 
reached  Topeka,  he  had  grown  larger,  and  I 
was  told  that  "anyone  who  picked  him  up  for 
a  fool  would  make  a  mistake."  Determined 
to  see  this  curious  man  in  his  proper  person, 
I  started  for  Medicine  Lodge,  but  stopped  at 
Wichita,  for  I  learned  that  he  had  passed  me 
on  his  way  to  Topeka.  A  Wichita  informant 
about  him  was  prolific — all  from  Republican 
sources — and  he  fairly  towered.  Incidental 
ly,  too,  I  got  a  hint  that  he  was  a  disciple  of 
Henry  George.  When  at  last  I  met  him  at 
Topeka,  I  found  this  to  be  true;  and  a  few 

242 


JEKEY  SIMPSON. 

weeks  later  lie  spoke  for  us  Single  Taxers  at 
Cooper  Union,  New  York  City,  in  defense  of 
absolute  free  trade.  From  that  time  until 
his  death  I  felt  it  an  honor  to  be  able  to  num 
ber  his  among  my  closest  and  most  cherished 
friendships. 

As  a  man,  Jerry  Simpson  was  open, 
strong,  unflinching;  and  he  was  as  thought 
ful,  prudent  and  rational  as  he  was  frank  and 
courageous.  A  politician  of  public  spirit, 
his  democracy  was  as  thorough  as  Jefferson's. 
It  permitted  no  distinction  of  race  or  creed 
or  class  or  nationality.  Like  Henry  George, 
whose  intimate  friend  he  became  and  whose 
disciple  he  was  proud  to  be,  Jerry  Simpson 
stood  for  men.  It  was  that  that  made  him  a 
free  trader.  It  was  that  that  made  him  a 
single  taxer.  He  believed  that  the  right  to 
trade  is  a  logical  corollary  of  the  right  to 
the  use  of  the  earth,  and  that  both  are  natural 

243 


THE  STOKY  OF 

rights  of  which  governments  cannot  in  jus 
tice  divest  anyone. 

In  loving  his  neighbor  as  himself  by 
holding  aloft  the  principle  of  justice,  Jerry 
Simpson  made  his  life  a  Christian  example 
in  a  higher  than  any  sectarian  sense.  A 
democratic  nobleman,  who  never  forgot  a 
friend  or  failed  to  forgive  an  enemy,  a  re 
publican  citizen  who  knew  no  class  distinc 
tions,  an  honest  man  whose  honesty  towered 
so  far  above  policy  as  to  be  his  guiding  prin 
ciple  of  thought  and  action  regardless  of  per 
sonal  consequences,  he  was  withal  one  of 
those  rare  patriots  to  whom,  as  to  William 
Loyd  Garrison,  their  country  is  the  world 
and  their  countrymen  all  mankind. 
Chicago,  Illinois. 

HON.  W.  D.  VINCENT. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  serve  as  one  of 

244 


JEKEY  SIMPSON. 

Mr.  Simpson's  colleagues  in  the  Fifty-fifth 
Congress.  During  the  five  months  extra 
session  we  lived  in  the  same  house  and  I  was 
with  him  most  of  the  time,  which  gave  me 
an  opportunity  to  study  and  appreciate  his 
simplicity  and  his  greatness.  He  was  one  of 
the  most  agreeable  and  entertaining  compan 
ions  I  ever  met.  He  was  always  witty  but 
never  tiresome.  His  witticisms  came  spon 
taneously  and  yet  there  was  philosophy  in 
what  he  said.  Some  men  are  humorists  be 
cause  they  make  it  a  study  and  try  to  be  fun 
ny.  Their  forced  wit  soon  becomes  tiresome. 
Jerry  was  humorous  because  he  could  not  be 
otherwise,  and  he  was  just  as  brilliant  and 
entertaining  at  the  end  of  a  month's  daily 
conversation  as  he  was  in  the  beginning.  In 
debate  he  showed  the  same  characteristics. 
He  was  always  ready.  Quick  as  a  spark  of 
electricity,  you  could  no  more  knock  him  off 
245 


THE  STOEY  OF 

his  feet  than  yon  could  prostrate  a  solid  rub 
ber  ball.  Nothing  pleased  him  better  than 
to  have  his  opponents  fire  questions  at  him — 
the  faster  they  came  the  better  he  liked  it. 
His  answers  came  as  quick  as  a  flash,  and  if 
he  had  known  a  week  in  advance  what  the 
questions  were  going  to  be  his  answers  could 
not  have  been  more  complete  and  to  the 
point.  More  than  once  with  his  sarcasm  and 
irony  did  he  make  such  old  debaters  as  Ding- 
ley  and  Grosvenor  regret  that  they  had  inter 
rupted  him.  In  his  controversies  with  the 
big  men  of  the  house  he  appeared  to  be  as 
cool  and  unconcerned  as  if  he  were  engaged 
in  the  pastime  of  telling  stories  to  a  crowd  of 
schoolboys. 

In  the  Fifty-fifth  congress  Simpson  was 
practically  the  leader,  not  only  of  the  Popu 
lists,  but  of  the  Democrats  on  the  floor  of  the 
House.  The  man  whom  the  Democrats  had 

246 


JEKKY  SIMPSON. 

selected  as  their  leader  was  too  conservative 
and  lie  was  almost  lost  sight  of  when  Jerry 
made  his  bold  fight  on  the  Reed  rules.  Simp 
son  became  impatient  with  the  Speaker's  rul 
ings  and  he  waged  a  war  on  the  aczar"  that 
will  go  down  in  history  as  one  of  the  events 
of  the  national  House  of  Representatives. 
Jerry  was  positively  in  the  right  in  that  con 
troversy  and  he  never  lost  an  opportunity  to 
harass  the  Speaker.  At  times  Reed  would  be 
come  so  exasperated  that  he  could  scarcely 
control  his  temper.  Jerry  dared  to  say  to 
the  Speaker's  face  what  other  members  were 
almost  afraid  to  say  behind  his  back.  Not 
withstanding  all  this  Mr.  Reed  was  his  per 
sonal  friend  and  admired  his  brilliancy  and 
audacity. 

Let  us  hope  that  the  life  and  character 
of  Jerry  Simpson  will  be  an  inspiration  to 


247 


THE  STOEY  OF 

younger  men  to  take  up  the  fight  for  human 
ity  where  he  left  off. 
Clay  Center,  Kansas. 

HAMLIN  GARLAND. 

As  I  look  back  upon  my  acquaintance 
with  Jerry  Simpson  I  remember  most  vivid 
ly  his  humor,  his  quick  wit  and  his  kindli 
ness.  We  were  drawn  together  first  by  our 
common  interest  in  Henry  George  and  his 
land  reform  but  I  came  to  like  "The  Sockless 
Sage'7  because  of  the  quaint  charm  of  his 
manner  and  the  sincerity  of  his  convictions. 
I  saw  much  of  him  in  Washington  and  we 
used  to  bicycle  about  the  suburbs  together. 
We  conspired  together  in  St.  Louis  to  get 
the  land  plank  into  the  Peoples  Party  plat 
form  and  always  I  found  him  single-hearted 
in  his  desire  to  make  the  world  better. 
Handicapped  by  the  lack  of  education  in  the 

248 


JEEKY  SIMPSON. 

formal  sense  lie  nevertheless  was  a  man  of 
knowledge  and  I  enjoyed  his  talk  quite  as 
much  as  his  speeches.  I  saw  him  on  the 
floor  of  the  House  during  the  time  when 
"The  Alliance"  had  its  "Wedge"  in  Congress 
and  it  was  a  delight  to  me  to  see  him  measure 
swords  with  some  of  the  polished  fencers  of 
the  floor.  He  was  quite  able  to  take  care  of 
himself  and  Speaker  E-eed  always  had  a 
twinkle  in  his  eye  when  Jerry  rose  to  reply. 

He  was  a  sturdy  democrat  in  the  best 
and  broadest  sense  of  the  term  a  "Henry 
George  democrat"  as  the  phrase  at  that  time 
expressed  it. 

He  will  long  remain  in  the  memories  of 
those  who  knew  him  as  one  of  the  most  pic 
turesque  figures  of  western  politics. 
Chicago,  Illinois. 


249 


THE  STOKY  OF 

MRS.  JENNIE  L.  MONROE. 

The  first  time  I  saw  Jerry  Simpson  was 
at  my  home  on  Capitol  Hill.  I  was  enter 
taining  the  Washington  Single  Tax  Club. 
Mr.  Simpson  had  been  in  the  city  but  a 
short  time  and  was  a  stranger  to  most  of 
those  present.  He  was  a  distinct  surprise  to 
us  all.  He  looked  like  a  theological  student. 
He  talked  very  little  during  the  evening,  but 
he  was  in  no  wise  self  conscious  or  ill  at  ease. 
The  few  remarks  which  were  elicited  from 
him  evinced  a  thorough  knowledge  of  Single 
Tax  theories. 

After  the  meeting,  I  remarked,  "If  this 
Mr.  Simpson  is  a  Kansas  ignoramus,  I  would 
like  to  meet  some  of  the  wise  men  of  that 
state." 

A  short  time  thereafter  I  made  the  ac 
quaintance  of  Mrs.  Simpson,  and  their  son, 
Lester,  and  it  was  my  great  pleasure  to  be 
250 


JEKEY  SIMPSON. 

intimate  with  the  family  during  their  entire 
residence  in  Washington. 

I  greatly  admired  Speaker  Reed,  for 
two  reasons,  first,  because  he  was  an  honest 
statesman,  second  because  he  had  &  genuine, 
personal  liking  for  Jerry  Simpson. 

It  is  upon  Jerry  Simpson  as  a  public 
man  of  distinction  that  the  memory  of  most 
people  will  linger;  I  like  best  to  remember 
him  in  his  simple,  everyday,  home  life,  where 
I  ever  found  him  courteous,  genial,  sincere. 
He  was  never  effusive  in  his  protestations  of 
desire  to  benefit  his  fellow  men,  but  he  ever 
impressed  me  as  one  to  whom  the  thought  of 
being  of  service  was  never  absent. 

During  Mr.  Simpson's  severe  illness,  I 
remained  at  their  home  for  two  days;  there 
was  a  continual  stream  of  callers — most  of 
them  congressmen,  and  all  of  them  eager  to 
render  any  possible  service.  It  was  during 
this  time  of  anxiety  that  I  learned  of  the 
warm  friendship  existing  between  Tom  John 
son  and  Jerry  Simpson,  and  also  of  the  warm 
251 


THE  STOEY  OF 


personal  regard  of  very  many  of  his  col 
leagues  who  were  not  at  all  in  sympathy  with 
his  political  views. 

I  esteem  it  one  of  the  privileges  of  my 
life  to  have  known  Jerry  Simpson. 

Washington,  D.  C. 

JUDGE  W.  W.  GATEWOOD. 
When  Jerry  Simpson  died  God  took 
from  among  us  one  of  Nature's  noblemen. 
He  was  a  diamond,  not  in  the  rough,  for,  by 
self  culture  he  had  made  himself  a  polished 
gentleman.  When  Abraham  Lincoln  was 
splitting  rails  in  the  wilderness  of  Illinois, 
he  was  a  prophet  undiscovered.  The  fullness 
of  time  revealed  the  true  character  of  Lin 
coln  to  the  world,  and  the  whole  earth  has 
united  in  canonizing  him.  Simpson  was  the 
same  sterling  character  of  man  as  Lincoln. 
Of  and  from  among  the  common  people,  yet 
in  no  sense  was  he  provincial  or  prescribed  by 
the  limits  or  prejudices  of  any  class.  As  he 
grew  the  horizon  of  his  mental  vision  extend- 
252 


JEEEY  SIMPSON. 


ed  until  Jerry  Simpson  in  the  meridian  of 
his  manhood  was  one  of  the  broadest  minded 
men  and  one  of  the  most  liberal  in  his  views 
among  all  the  public  men  of  our  day.  With 
out  early  opportunities  for  education  or  ad 
vancement,  by  the  natural  force  of  character 
that  was  in  him,  by  the  laudable  ambition 
he  always  had  to  do  something  worthy  among 
his  fellows,  by  his  devotion  to  the  right  as  it 
was  given  him  to  see  the  right,  and  by  honest, 
constant,  faithful  discharge  of  every  duty  that 
fell  to  him  to  do,  he  gradually  and  steadily 
arose  in  the  appreciation  of  those  about  him 
until  among  the  first  statesmen  of  his  country 
he  became  recognized  and  appreciated  as  a 
thinker  and  a  leader  worthy  of  the  highest 
consideration  and  the  most  implicit  confid 
ence. 

The  writer  knew  Jerry  Simpson  as  a 
warm  personal  friend.  His  life  was  much 
that  every  father  should  wish  his  son  to  be 
come.  In  his  business  life  he  was  faithful, 
honest  and  true.  In  a  word,  Jerry  Simpson, 
253 


THE  STORY  OF 

from  first  to  last,  was  an  honest  man — the 
noblest  work  of  God. 
Roswell,  New  Mexico. 

c.  w.  DEFREEST. 

Honorable  Jerry  Simpson  was,  in  my 
mind,  one  of  the  most  companionable  men 
with  whom  I  have  ever  had  the  pleasure  of 
associating.  Generous  to  a  fault,  magnani 
mous  in  spirit  and  action,  he  was  always  will 
ing  to  respond  to  the  occasion. 

My  association  with  him  in  the  Land 
and  Immigration  business,  extending  over  a 
considerable  period  of  time,  was  a  great  edu 
cation  for  me.  I  shall  always  look  back  and 
remember  with  pleasure,  the  period  in  which 
we  strove  together,  in  directing  and  bringing 
people  to  the  Pecos  Valley.  We  never  had 
an  unpleasant  word,  and  I  know  of  no  one 
held  dearer  in  the  hearts  of  his  friends  and 
constituents  than  Jerry  Simpson. 
Roswell,  New  Mexico. 
254 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 


EOSWELL,  K  M.,  RECORD. 
Not  for  the  honors  he  had  won  in  the 
past  nor  for  high  office  he  once  held,  but  for 
his  everyday  personality  as  a  neighbor  and 
private  citizen,  his  leadership  and  earnest  ef 
forts  in  presenting  to  the  world  the  advant 
ages  of  the  valley  which  he  chose  for  spend 
ing  his  declining  years  in  peaceful  simplicity 
of  living,  the  city  of  Roswell  and  the  Pecos 
valley  sincerely  mourns  the  death  of  Jerry 
Simpson,  a  good  and  useful  man.  Unspoiled 
by  success,  dignified  and  determined  enough 
on  occasion,  he  was  childlike  in  his  frank  en 
joyment  of  the  simplest  relations.  Every 
body  called  him  by  his  first  name,  and  yet 
he  was  none  the  less  respected.  It  was  not 
a  vulgar  familiarity  that  caused  his  friends 
to  refer  to  him  as  "Our  Jerry."  It  was 
rather,  like  the  parental  pride  whose  heart 
with  love  in  contemplating  the  achieve 
ments  of  "our  boy" — cherished  by  the  humble 
fireside,  and  looked  upon  with  wonder  and 
admiration  as  his  voice  was  raised  in  the  halls 
of  the  great. 

255 


THE  STOKY  OF 

HENRY  W.  YOUNG. 

Jerry  Simpson  was  one  of  the  most  orig 
inal  and  unique  personalities  the  present 
generation  has  seen  and  at  the  same  time 
wholesomely  human  and  genuinely  lovable. 
Although  so  illiterate  that  he  couldn't  write 
a  dozen  words  without  misspelling  several  of 
them,  he  was  none  the  less  a  great  man.  In 
the  halls  of  Congress  he  weilded  an  influence 
greater  than  any  other  member  of  the  minor 
ity,  and  in  the  thrust  and  parry  of  debate  he 
had  no  peer.  He  was  as  quick-witted  as  an 
Irishman  and  his  repartee  came  like  a  flash 
of  lightning  out  of  a  clear  sky.  Politically, 
he  was,  like  Mayor  Tom  Johnson,  a  single 
taxer,  a  disciple  of  Henry  George. 

Knowing  him  intimately,  as  one  knows 
a  man  with  whom  and  against  whom  he  has 
battled  in  conventions  and  committee  rooms, 
and  with  whom  he  has  talked  familiarly  by 
the  hour,  I  feel  impelled  to  say  that  while 
Jerry  was  human  and  fallible,  like  the  rest 
of  us,  he  was  a  clean,  honest,  straightforward 
256 


JERKY  SIMPSON. 

self-respecting  American  who  had  at  heart 
the  interests  of  all  the  people  and  worked  for 
them  as  he  saw  the  light. 

Jerry  contributed  in  no  small  degree 
to  the  gaiety  of  the  nation  and  he  made  the 
most  prosy  political  subjects  bright  and  di 
verting  by  his  original  way  of  looking  at 
things  and  by  his  homely  anecdotes  and  il 
lustrations.  It  would  be  well  for  the  people 
of  the  United  States  if  there  were  lots  more 
like  Jerry  in  public  life.  But  he  stood  alone 
and  singular,  the  only  one  of  his  kind  and  by 
far  the  more  interesing  on  that  account. 

It  seems  well  and  fitting  that  he  should 
have  come  back  to  Kansas  to  die.  Although 
he  was  born  over  the  border  in  Canada,  it  was 
here  that  he  made  the  long  step  from  city 
marshal  of  Medicine  Lodge  to  member  of  the 
United  States  Congress.  His  story  is  part 
of  the  heritage  of  our  state,  and  we  are  glad 
that  the  last  scenes  upon  which  his  mortal 
eyes  gazed  were  those  of  one  of  our  greatest 
valleys  and  the  last  skies  whose  mornings 
257 


THE  STOKY  OF 


brightened  and  whose  sunsets  flamed  over 
him  were  those  of  the  commonwealth  he 
loved  and  honored,  and  which  had  honored 
him. 

Independence,  Kansas. 

MRS.  CORA  G.  LEWIS. 

Many  people  who  admired  Jerry  Simp 
son  as  a  public  man,  knew  little  of  his  de 
lightful  personality.  He  had  the  reserve  of 
the  genuinely  refined,  and  was  most  loveable 
as  a  friend.  He  was  a  guest  in  our  home 
many  times,  coming  the  first  time  with  Mrs. 
Simpson.  He  had  been  very  ill  and  was 
really  not  able  to  speak,  and  to  meet  and  to 
shake  hands  with  the  crowds  of  people  that 
always  swarmed  into  town  to  hear  him.  I 
shall  always  remember  the  exquisite  care  his 
wife  gave  him  when  she  brought  him  to  the 
house  in  a  state  of  exhaustion  after  the  hand 
shaking  ordeal. 

We  always  had  enchanting  hours  with 
books,  when  he  was  with  us,  and  long  looks 
258 


JEKKY  SIMPSOK 


backward  over  the  pathway  of  the  race  to  its 
present  place,  and  made  many  plans  to  help 
hurry  the  coming  of  the  day  of  brotherhood. 
The  books  we  loved  best  are  more  precious 
because  he  has  read  aloud  from  them.  He 
had  a  way  of  stopping  in  the  midst  of  a 
thought  and  drawling,  "Say  do  you  remem 
ber  what  Hugo,  or  perhaps  Emerson  or  Mat- 
zini,  said  about  that — haven't  you  got  it 
somewhere  ?"  Mostly  we  had  it,  and  some  of 
the  books  have  turned  down  corners  yet,  as 
he  left  them.  Sometimes  there  were  friends 
in,  to  share  the  beautiful  hours.  ~No  matter 
how  much  we  tried  to  keep  away  from  it, 
every  talk  on  the  problems  of  humanity, 
came  untimately  to  Henry  George's  solution 
in  "Progress  and  Poverty."  We  have  a. 
copy  of  this  book  that  he  gave  us.  It  was  in 
paper  covers  and  he  had  been  reading  it  on 
the  train  during  a  campaign.  It  has  a  few 
penciled  comments  on  the  margins,  and  is 
hallowed  by  memories  of  the  times  three  of 
us  read  that  wonderful  last  chapter  together. 
259 


THE  STORY  OF 


Warden  Haskell  had  this  book  bound  for  us 
by  a  convict  at  the  penitentiary.  It  seemed 
to  me  that  was  what  it  needed ;  to  have  been 
written  by  Henry  George;  to  have  been 
loved  and  read  by  Jerry  Simpson;  and  to 
be  bound  by  one  who  had  suffered;  for  the 
lives  of  both  writer  and  lover  were  beaten 
out  against  the  bars  of  life,  trying  to  ease 
the  burdens  of  mankind.  I  remember  once 
when  Mr.  Simpson  came  to  Kinsley,  Mr. 
Lewis  was  in  Topeka  taking  care  of  the 
speaker's  bureau  during  a  hard  fought  po 
litical  campaign.  Jerry  came  in  Friday 
evening,  and  went  to  bed  with  the  usual 
good  night,  and  "rest  until  you  want  to 
get  up.'7  We  were  in  the  midst  of  an  excit 
ing  local  political  fight  and  I  was  running 
the  Graphic.  I  went  to  the  office  early  Sat 
urday,  leaving  the  household  in  charge  of 
my  mother,  and  a  faithful  maid.  The  town 
was  full  of  people,  for  Jerry  was  to  speak 
at  the  opera  house  in  the  afternoon,  and  at 
eleven  a.  m.  there  was  to  be  a  procession 
260 


JEEEY  SIMPSON. 

headed  by  the  speaker.  Jerry  had  been  in 
formed  by  the  chairman  of  the  arrange 
ments.  I  refreshed  his  memory  as  to  the 
plan  Friday  evening.  Along  about  10:30 
Saturday  the  chairman  of  the  congressional 
committee,  came  to  the  office  after  the 
speaker  and  said  the  procession  was  form 
ing.  I  said  "lie  was  very  tired  yesterday 
and  I  am  afraid  he  is  still  asleep  at  our 
house.  Won't  you  go  down  and  ask  mother 
to  have  him  called  at  once?"  The  chair 
man  went.  He  came  back  surrounded  by  a 
chilly  official  atmosphere,  and  said  icily, 
"Jerry  isn't  there."  "He  has  taken  your 
three  children  and  gone  for  a  walk  on  the 
prairies,  and  your  mother  says  he  has  been 
gene  an  hour  and  he  knew  all  about  this  pa 
rade."  I  was  aghast.  I  went  home  at  once, 
and  reproached  mother  for  having  let  the 
hero  of  the  day  escape.  Eleven  o'clock 
came  and  no  Jerry.  The  procession  had 
formed,  the  horses  were  prancing  and  the 
wind  blowing,  and  again  the  chairman  ap- 
261 


THE  STORY  OF 


peared,  about  as  mad  as  a  man  can  be.  He 
said  bitingly  to  me:  "Is  he  out  with  those 
children  yet  ?"  I  felt  most  deeply  my  guilt 
in  being  the  mother  of  the  three  who  had  so 
endeared  themselves  to  Jerry.  Eleven 
thirty  came,  and  I  was  desperately  trying 
to  smooth  the  ruffled  plumage  of  the  chair 
man,  while  mother  and  the  maid  kept  a 
sharp  lookout  for  the  run-a-ways.  Finally 
the  chairman  took  his  departure,  icicles 
crackling  from  his  outraged  person  at  each 
step.  Mother  and  I  felt  most  decidedly,  at 
this  point,  that  politics  was  not  woman's 
sphere.  The  procession,  without  a  person 
age,  wended  its  way  about  the  little 
town,  a  sense  of  resentment  against  Jerry 
and  me  pervading  its  entire  presence.  About 
one  o'clock  the  wanderers  came  home.  They 
were  so  happy,  so  dirty,  and  so  tired,  I  had 
not  the  heart  to  say  a  word.  Their  arms 
were  full  of  long  sweet  grasses,  lacy  brown 
weeds  and  late  autumn  flowers.  Two  of 
the  children  had  thrust  a  branch  from  a 
262 


JEEKY  SIMPSON. 


cotton  wood,  through  a  big  tumble  weed,  and 
were  towing  it  home  in  triumph,  to  show 
their  grandmother.  They  unloaded  their 
trophies  on  the  veranda  and  besides  the 
things  visible  there  were  hidden  treasures — 
stones,  a  small  lizard,  a  few  late  frogs,  some 
curious  seed  pods  and  a  weather-beaten 
bird's  nest.  As  gently  as  I  could  I  broke 
the  news  of  the  heroless  parade  to  Jerry. 
He  said,  aOh,  I  don't  care;  I  hate  proces 
sions  anyway.  I  was  so  tired  and  I  had 
a  walk  that's  rested  me  enough  to  last  a 
week,"  and  he  turned  to  arbitrate  the  ques 
tion,  as  to  whether  the  lizard  belonged  to 
the  six-year-old  boy,  who  saw  it  first,  the 
seven-year-old  boy,  who  caught  it,  or  their 
sister  of  ten,  who  carried  it  home  in  her 
apron  pocket.  I  was  not  to  be  trifled  with 
further.  I  insisted  upon  a  proper  toilet,  a 
hurried  luncheon  and  telephoned  to  the  com 
mittee  that  their  candidate  would  be  at 
the  Graphic  office  ready  for  a  conference 
with  the  party  leaders  at  one  thirty.  When 


THE  STOKY  OF 

we  got  there  the  atmosphere  would  have  chill 
ed  an  Esquimo.  Jerry  felt  bady  for  he  loved 
people,  and  hated  to  grieve  them,  much  as 
he  abhorred  anything  in  the  shape  of  display. 
That  night  at  dinner  we  all  felt  depressed. 
Finally  Jerry  said,  "Well  Jim  ought  to  have 
stayed  home  and  tended  to  this  thing.    What 
did   he   go   away   for   anyhow?"     "Yes,"    I 
said,  "he  is  the  cause  of  all  the  trouble.     He 
should  have  been  here  instead    of    leaving 
this  meeting  to  me."     Mother  straightened 
up  and  began  a  defense  of  her  son-in-law, 
whom  she  would  not  have  blamed  for  Jerry's 
forgetfulness.     We  laughed  and  soon  forgot 
the   annoyances.     Friends   came   in   for  the 
evening,   and  Jerry  charmed  and  delighted 
us  until  midnight  with  his  conversation.  His 
keen  mind  always  dominated     a     company. 
A  great  reader,  a  profound  thinker,  a  lover 
of  men,  a  man  to  whom  shams  were  abhor 
rent,  a  gentle  kindly  spirit,  whose  wit  was 
keen  as  a  flame,  as  a  guest  he  left  in  our 
home  a  trail  of  sweet  scented  memories. 
Kinsley,  Kansas. 

264 


JERKY  SIMPSON. 

JUDGE  FRANK  DOSTER. 

There  is  a  species  of  justice  akin  to  tt\3 
retributive  which  compels  us  finally  to  ac 
cept  the  creed  of  those  who  because  of  it  we 
first  persecuted  and  reviled;  but  rarely  in 
deed  is  the  grace  given  us  to  admit  to  the 
victim  of  our  hate  and  scorn  that  we  have 
been  converted  to  the  saving  reason  and-pow- 
er  of  his  superior  virtue.     Paul,  it  is  true, 
confessed  to  the  face  of  those  he  had  scoffed 
at  and  scourged ;  we  rather  than  make  avow 
al  to  those  whom  we  have  wronged  because 
of  their  faith,  meanly  conceal  our  conver 
sion,  or  more  often,  and  meaner  still,  usurp 
the  place  of  the  prophet  who  had  told  us  of 
the  better  way,   and  pretend  to  have  been, 
instead  of  he,  the  first  apostle  of  the  right 
eousness  he  had  preached.     We  seem  never 
to  be  able  frankly  to  admit  that  we  were  in 
the  wrong  and  another  in  the  right.     If  we 
make  the  admission  at  all    it    is    always    so 
compromised  and  qualified  with  "buts"  and 
"ifs"  that  the  virtue  of  that  "honest  confes- 
265 


THE  STORY  OF 


sion  which  is  good  for  the  soul"  becomes  de 
prived  of  all  efficacy  by  the  lies  which  ac 
company  its  telling. 

Jerry  Simpson  in  what  he  preached  il 
lustrated  more  than  anyone  of  this  genera 
tion  the  strange  anomalies  of  human  nature 
just  mentioned.  In  his  public  career  he 
was  calumniated  and  reviled  more  than  any 
man  of  his  time.  What  obloquy  and  re 
proach  did  not  fall  to  his  lot  had  either  not 
been  conceived  in  thought  or  else  failed  of 
expression  because  of  the  limitations  of 
speech.  The  superlatives  of  contempt,  ridi 
cule,  epithet,  and  anathema  were  inadequate 
to  voice  the  disapproval  and  contempt  of  him 
and  his  doctrines.  They  sound  strange  now, 
those  indictments  under  which  he  was  ar 
raigned  at  the  bar  of  partisan  malignity  and 
hate.  It  will  be  profitable  to  glance  at  some 
of  them  so  as  to  know  how  radically  in  so 
brief  a  space  of  time  the  law  of  political  high 
crimes  and  misdemeanors  has  changed.  He 
said  that  party  politics  was  corrupt  and  that 
266 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 


party  organizations  existed  chiefly  for  the 
purpose  of  public  plunder.  The  sickening 
revelations  of  boodle,  graft  and  fraud  in  the 
courts  and  other  investigating  tribunals  seem 
to  justify  the  suspicion  of  everyone  in  offic 
ial  life.  He  said  that  avaricious  trusts  and 
combines  were  possessing  themselves  of  the 
substance  of  the  industrial  toiler  and  should 
be  compelled  to  let  go.  The  universal  judg 
ment  of  the  country,  voiced  in  particular  by 
its  president,  now  approves  what  Jerry 
Simpson  said,  and  demands  that  the  trusts 
let  go.  He  said  the  people  as  a  whole  should 
own  and  operate  what  the  individual  could 
not  own  and  manage  for  himself.  The 
socialization  of  the  public  utilities  of  light, 
water,  communication  and  transportation  is 
now  the  accepted  philosophy  of  the  vast  ma 
jority — is  practiced  in  numerous  instances, 
while  in  all  other  instances  we  only  await 
decision  as  to  the  available  time  and  methods 
of  realization.  Not  to  further  call  over  the 
list,  he  said  a  dozen  other  truths  of  large  mo- 
267 


THE  STOEY  OF 

ment  and  of  like  kind  to  those  mentioned, 
which  like  them  fell  upon  dull  ears  or  were 
ridiculed  by  scoffing  tongues,  but  every  one 
of  which  in  less  than  a  score  of  years  has 
been   accepted   by   populace   and   politician, 
and  on  which  those  who  crucified  him  for 
uttering   them   are   now   riding    into    office. 
With  the  exception  of  what  Jerry  Simpson 
thought  on  the  financial  topic,  viz.,  the  kind 
of  material  out  of  which  money  should  be 
made,  absolutely  everyone  of  his  views  has 
passed   into   the   accepted  creed  of  the  two 
controlling   political   parties   of   the   nation, 
and  it  only  needs  a  financial  panic  or  a  re 
currence  of  hard  times  to  turn  men's  thoughts 
to  a  serious  consideration  whether,  after  all, 
he  was  not  right  as  to  that.     Less  than  twen 
ty  years  ago,  for  preaching  what  everybody 
now  believes,  he  was  the  most  illy  thought  of 
and  worst  abused  man  of  his  time.     Only 
his  nimble  wit  and  contagious  good  humor 
saved   him    from    actual   physical   violence; 
now  his  erstwhile  enemies  speak  of  him  with 
268 


JEEKY  SIMPSON. 

respect,  some  of  them  even  with  affection. 
He  was  a  man  whom  not  only  Kansas  but 
the  nation  will  presently  remember  to  love. 
Topeka,  Kansas. 

MBS.  LESTEK  SIMPSON. 

I  think  few  girls  feel  toward  their 
father-in-law  as  I  did  toward  Mr.  Simpson. 
I  could  never  see  him  in  any  light  except  as 
a  most  perfect  husband  and  father.  He  was 
always  kind  and  generous  in  his  home  and 
always  had  a  kind  word  and  pleasant  smile 
with,  which  to  greet  us  all.  I  never  met  him 
that  he  did  not  greet  me  with  a  smile  and  a 
"Hello  Gerlie." 

He  never  told  his  family  of  anything 
that  might  worry  them,  but  he  would  tell  us 
of  the  better  things  that  were  in  store  for  us. 

I  was  with  him  a  great  deal  in  his  last 
illness  and  while  we  all  knew  he  was  suffer 
ing  untold  pain  I  never  heard  him  speak  ond 
word  of  complaint. 

269 


THE  STORY  OF 

Oh,  there  is  so  much  to  be  said  about 
Daddie. 

Lipscomb,  Texas. 

MRS.  JERRY  SIMPSON. 

I  want  to  say  a  few  words  directly  to 
the  personal  friends  of  my  husband.  I 
want  them  to  know  how  truly  he  valued  their 
friendship.  Especially  do  I  want  to  tell 
the  7th  District  friends  how  grateful  he  was 
for  their  kindness,  their  warm  support  and 
for  their  contributions  which  made  it  pos 
sible  for  him  to  go  through  his  first  cam 
paign  for  Congress  without  financial  embar 
rassment.  Dear  old  friends,  he  spoke  of 
you  so  often. 

Oh,  how  many  precious  memories  I 
have  of  my  good  husband.  How  wonderful 
were  his  patience  and  his  tender  care  of  me 
during  the  years  of  my  invalidism.  His 
was  the  gentler  nature,  mine  the  more  im 
petuous.  Never  once  in  all  his  life  did  he 
speak  in  any  but  gentle,  loving  tones  to  our 
270 


JERRY  SIMPSON. 


little  son.     And  oh,  what  delight  he  took  in 
our  little  grandson,  Jerry  Simpson,  Jr. 

My  husband  did  not  leave  us  wealth 
but  he  left  a  far  more  priceless  legacy,  in 
the  record  of  his  public  career  and  his  un 
tarnished  name.  And  it  is  my  hope  that 
our  son  Lester,  his  wife  Gerlie,  of  whom  he 
was  so  fond,  and  their  two  sons,  Jerry  and 
Russell,  may  ever  find  inspiration  and  in 
centive  to  noble  living  in  this  book. 

The  world  is  better  I  am  sure  because 
of  the  life  and  work  of  my  Jerry. 
Faithfully  yours, 

JANE  SIMPSON. 
Wichita,  Kansas. 


271 


THE  STOEY  OF 


SPEECHES  OF 
HON.  JEEEY  SIMPSON 

,    53D  AND   55TH    CONGRESSES. 

52nd  Congress,  First  Session. 
Free  Cotton  Ties.     Appendix  to  Congression 
al     Eecord     pp.      132—140.     (Chapters 
xxv — xxx    of    Henry    George's      Protec 
tion  and  Free  Trade.) 

Meat   Inspection    1773 

Indians    _  <  1514 

Wealth  of  Country 3728 

Naval  appropriation 3230 

T™ff   3107—3114 

Irrigation 4396 

Post  Office 4820—4831 

Personal  explanation    7084 

52nd  Congress,  Second  Session. 

Pensions Appendix  49—50 

53rd  Congress,  First  Session. 

Silver 486—493.    Appendix  50—51 

Farm  Mortgages   927 — 928 

Eailroad-road  stations  in  Territories 

2717,   2735 

53d  Congress,  Second  Session. 

Silver  Bullion  Coinage 2517 

Appendix  517 — 522 
272 


JERKY  SIMPSON. 

Western  Branch  of  Soldiers  Home 

Appendix    645 — 647 

Admission  of  New  Mexico 270 — 272 

Tariff   772—777—905 

Admission  of  Utah 210—211 

Central  Labor  Union,  Worcester,  Mass.  1274 

Oklahoma  town  sites    2261 

53d  Congress,  Third  Session. 
Currency  Legislation  .  .  .Appendix  194,  383 

Tariff  and  Income  Tax Appendix  382 

Debate  on  Pension  bill 

(Elizabeth  Brewer)    1.127—1130 

Pacific  E.  E.  Indebtedness 1704 

Printing  II.  S.  Notes 1383—1384 

Sugar  Duty   1514 

Debate  on  Naval  appropriation  bill 

2240—2244,    2460—61 . 

International  Money  Conference  3215,  3246 
Fifty  fifth  Congress,  First  Session. 

India  Famine  sufferers 568 — 569 

Personal  Privilege 650,  651 

Tariff 273—275,  399,  491—492 

Pearl  Harbor 1025,  1026 

Monetary  Commission    2966 

55//i  Congress,  Second  Session. 

Payment  of  bonds  of  U.  S. 

Appendix  111 — 116 

273 


THE  STORY  OF 


War  Revenue  bill 

.......  Appendix  549—550,  4395—4406 

Civil-service  Law    .............  546  _  548 

Cotton  Industry  ....................  810 

Cuba    .......................  803—804 

Governmest  expenditures    .......  947  —  948 

Kansas  Affairs  .............  949,  950,  951 

Transportation  of  Bullion  .......  565  —  566 

Rivers  and  Harbors   .........  2196  _  2197 

Paris  exposition   .............  2058  —  2059 

Second  class  mail  matter  ......  2375  —  2377 

Xaval  Appropriation  bill  ......  3465  —  3467 

Election  of  Senators  by  the  people 

........................   4816—4817 

Pacific  R.  R.  Indebtedness  ____  6723  —  6724 


Congress,  Third  Session. 
Navy  personnel  bill  ............  668  —  669 

Relief  of  William  Cramp  &  Sons  Ship  and 
Engine  Building  Company  ____  860  —  862 

Army  reorganization  .........  1001  —  1006 

Indemnity  to  Spain   ...............  1958 

Army  appropriation  bill  ............  2329 

Speech  of  Thomas   Corwin  ..........  2743 

Philippine  Islands    .............  2408 


274 


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